What are wicket drills?

Sprints over a line of low mini-hurdles spaced about one step apart. Each step clears a wicket, which rewards upright posture, a high knee and an even rhythm at speed. Sprinters usually run them before top-speed work.

How many wickets should I use?

A coaching setup described by Vince Anderson uses nine, in three groups of three. On a 20m wicket run, divide 20m by your spacing; at 2m spacing that is about ten.

How high should wickets be?

Start low. In a study of 12 athletes, 20cm mini-hurdles slowed them down and cut step rate compared with flat markers, while lengthening their steps. Raise the height only once the rhythm holds at speed.

Can I do wicket runs without wickets?

Yes. Flat markers or tape at the same spacing give you the rhythm and foot-placement targets. The flat condition in the mini-hurdle height study was 0.5cm high.

Wicket runs for sprinters: setup, spacing and progression

Q: How far apart should wickets be?

About one of your own steps at the speed you enter them. Film yourself over a marked 20m with the same run-in, divide 20m by the number of steps, and start there. Published setups range from 1.45m after a four-step build-up to 2.2m after a 20m run-in.

By the Sprint University coaching team

Wicket drills are sprints over a row of low mini-hurdles, called wickets, set about one step apart so that every step clears one. They train upright posture and an even rhythm at speed. Set the spacing from your own step length, measured on video at the speed you'll enter the wickets, and lengthen it in small amounts as you get faster.

Published setups vary a lot, from nine wickets 1.45–1.59m apart after a four-step build-up to wickets 2.2m apart placed between 20 and 40m of a sprint. The difference is speed, which is why your own step is the number to start from.

What do wicket runs train?

The wickets give you a target for every step, which makes a change in your rhythm easy to see and feel. Coaches use them for top-speed posture. The Australian Strength and Conditioning Association (ASCA) describes sprinting over wickets as a way to establish an efficient upright posture, and in coach Vince Anderson's version the focus is tall posture, knees up and a strong downward strike between the wickets.

The research is small and mostly short-term. When 12 nationally ranked youth sprinters did a session of wicket runs, their left-right symmetry and side-to-side control improved in the days that followed, while an assisted-sprint session did more for ground contact time. A related drill with mini-hurdles 90cm apart, far shorter than a sprint step, raised top speed by 3.2% and step rate by 3.3% in a 60m sprint run after it.

Because the spacing caps your step, wickets also make reaching harder. The overstriding guide covers that fault in detail.

How to set up wickets

Use the lowest wickets you have: flat sticks, low mini-hurdles or tape. Taller hurdles slowed athletes down in the height study below.
Give yourself a run-in. Anderson's rhythm version uses a four-step build-up so you are close to upright at the first wicket. For top-speed wickets, start the row after a longer run-in; the height study placed its hurdles between 20 and 40m.
Put a finish mark about 5m past the last wicket, as Anderson does, so you keep sprinting through the final step.
Use enough wickets to fill the zone. Anderson uses nine, in three groups of three. For a 20m row, divide 20m by your spacing.

How wicket height changes your stride

The height study ran 12 athletes through the same 2.2m spacing at three hurdle heights. As the hurdles got taller, the athletes took slightly longer, less frequent steps and ran slower:

Hurdle height	Speed	Step rate	Step length	Contact time
0.5cm (flat)	8.69 m/s	3.98 per s	2.19m	0.121 s
13cm	8.61 m/s	3.91 per s	2.20m	0.122 s
20cm	8.50 m/s	3.82 per s	2.23m	0.124 s

Only the flat-versus-20cm differences in speed, step rate and step length were statistically significant, and contact time did not change. Since taller wickets cost speed and step rate, keep them low while the drill is about top speed.

How far apart should wickets be?

Spacing depends on how fast you are moving when you reach the wickets, which is why no single chart fits everyone. The published setups cover a wide range:

Setup	Spacing	Entry	Height
Anderson rhythm drill	1.45m, 1.52m, 1.59m (three groups of three)	4-step build-up	Not given
Mini-hurdle height study	2.20m	Hurdles from 20m to 40m	0.5, 13 and 20cm
Youth sprinter study	Uniform, set to each athlete's stride	40m runs	Not given
Quick-step mini-hurdles	0.90m (shorter than a step)	Not given; 3 runs over 10 hurdles	22cm

The ASCA resource says spacing depends on the athlete's speed, and the youth sprinter study set it from each athlete's own stride. To do the same:

Mark a 20m zone and run through it with the run-in you'll use for the wickets, at wicket speed.
Film from the side and count your foot contacts in the zone to the nearest half step.
Divide 20m by that count. 20m in 10 steps is a 2.0m step.
Set the wickets at that distance and watch the first few runs.

After a short build-up you are still speeding up through the wickets, so lengthen the spacing as the row goes on, the way Anderson's groups grow by 7cm each. After a long run-in your speed and step stay close to constant, and uniform spacing fits. If you reach for the wickets or clip them, the spacing is too long. Short, choppy steps between them mean it is too short. Our stride length vs stride frequency guide shows the full video method.

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Wicket runs on your top-speed days

Sprint University programs acceleration, top speed, speed endurance, plyos and strength week by week from your current times. When something changes, the coach chat rewrites your week.

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Sets, reps and where they go

	Prescription
Wicket runs	4 × 20m @ 95–100%, 3 min rest
Where	Top-speed days, after straight-leg bounds and high knees
Then	The main top-speed set, such as 4 × flying 20m with a 20m run-in @ 100%, 5 min rest

In the top-speed warm-up from the sprint warm-up guide, wickets come last, after straight-leg bounds and high knees, so they lead straight into the fastest reps of the day. Sprint workouts has the flying 20s session that follows.

How to progress wicket runs

If you are new to the drill, learn to clear a row tall at walking speed first. Hurdle walk-overs (8 × 6 hurdles, from the warm-down in the sprint drills guide) let you practice staying tall over a row of obstacles. Then build speed through these stages:

Start with the rhythm version: a short build-up, low wickets and spacing that grows down the row.
Move to a longer run-in with uniform spacing set from your flying step.
Re-measure your step on video every few weeks and lengthen the spacing as it grows.
Raise the height later. The ASCA notes that wicket height can go up over time to reinforce the swing leg's recovery, and it reserves the drill for experienced athletes working with a coach.

A review of elite sprint training lists hurdle drills among the low-speed drills practitioners use to reinforce technique. Keep wickets in that role, as preparation for the sprints that follow.

Common mistakes

Copying someone else's spacing: A faster or taller teammate's setup will make you reach. Measure your own step and set the wickets from it.
Wickets too high: Taller hurdles slowed athletes and lowered step rate in the height study. Start flat or low.
Looking down: Keep your eyes ahead, past the last wicket to the finish mark, and hold the tall posture the drill is there to build.
Running them slow: At jogging speed the spacing no longer matches the step you measured. Run them at the speed you set the spacing for, 95–100% for top-speed wickets.
Never changing the spacing: As your step lengthens, old spacing starts to cramp you. Re-measure after each retest.

For the drills that come before wickets in the warm-up, see sprint drills, and for the top-speed positions they rehearse, see sprint form.