Prosthetics do not give sprinters unfair advantage, research suggests

Carbon-fibre blades like those worn by sprinter Oscar Pistorius do not give an edge over able-bodied athletes, say scientistsProsthetics worn by disabled sprinters confer no speed advantage, scientists have found. If anything, they may reduce the top speed a runner can achieve.The research supports the case made by the South African Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius, who uses flexible carbon-fibre blades in races. Pistorius has long argued that he should be allowed to compete alongside able-bodied athletes in races, but athletics authorities banned him from doing so in last year's Olympic games, claiming that his blades gave him an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes.But the new study by Alena Grabowski at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests the authorities may have come to the wrong conclusion.Grabowski and her colleagues examined how six elite sprinters, each with one amputated leg, ran with their prostheses. The researchers chose sprinters with one amputation because...

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