The Track and Field Performance Podcast

Jack Green is a two-time Olympian, World and European relay medalist, European U-23 champion in the 400m hurdles, and now the lead coach for Saudi Arabia's long hurdles and sprint relay program.
Jack's athletic career was shaped not only by his successes but also by his promise as an adolescent and the battles he faced thereafter. Now, channeling those difficult lessons combined with the knowledge he has gained from working with coaches like Lauren Seagrave, Jack is in an ideal position to not just develop elite athletes - but also people.
Topics
0:00 – Introduction & Jack's current coaching role in Saudi Arabia
3:27 – A candid reflection on a stop-start career and the fall at London 2012
6:45 – Mental health struggles following the Olympics — depression, anxiety, and 18 months out of the sport
7:34 – Rebuilding with Lauren Seagrave and self-coaching through the final years of his career
10:37 – Why he retired at 28, still ranked top 10 in the world
16:03 – Jack's coaching pillars: human first, seeing the individual, biomechanics, hurdling all year, and athlete independence
23:02 – The coach-athlete relationship: moving from director to facilitator
26:57 – What good communication actually looks like day to day
38:05 – Why less can be more
43:03 – Creating psychological safety and a sense of home for athletes
46:48 – Meeting the athlete where they are: minimum standards, cultural awareness, and role modelling
57:52 – Playing the long game and reframing what success actually means
1:05:13 – Identity, fear, and how the mindset that drove early success can become a long-term limitation
1:09:47 – Start Line Thinking — Jack's self-published book, available now on Amazon
Jack's Book: Start Line Thinking: Amazon.co.uk: Green OLY, Jack, Pindar, Joe: 9798258845047: Books
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David Kerin is a former collegiate coach, USA Track and Field national team administrator, and performance consultant. David brings a refreshingly unconventional lens to some of the sport's most persistent challenges. 
His articles on '2D, 2.5, 3D Coaching' and 'Fixing the Right Problem' and most recently, developing a provisional patent for an innovative movement analysis system shows that he has never stopped asking the questions others overlook. 

Topics
0:00 – Introduction — David's background as a collegiate coach, USA Track & Field national team development administrator, and current consultant working across multiple sports
5:10 – Why Biomechanics? — What drew David deeper into the science of movement, why track and field's objectivity makes it the perfect laboratory, and the mentors who helped shape his thinking
8:00 – Fixing the Right Problem — Why the flaw you see is never the root cause, and how to work backward through a performance sequence to find the real breakdown point
13:00 – The High Jump Curve Problem — Why athletes drift instead of committing to the curve, the "lean is a byproduct" principle, and how poor curve mechanics have quietly reshaped the event
17:00 – 2D Thinking vs. 3D Reality — Why coaches and scientists analyzing three-dimensional movement through a two-dimensional lens creates critical blind spots, and David's concept of "2.5D" as a practical stepping stone
22:00 – The Third Dimension in Sprinting — Why foot orientation and lateral placement are being overlooked in sprint analysis, even at the elite level
26:10 – US Athlete Development — The structural tensions in NCAA track and field, the cost of prioritizing recruitment over development, and how USA Track & Field's Talent Protection Program tried to bridge the post-collegiate gap
38:25 – Whole, Part, and When to Intervene — When to isolate components vs. train the whole event, why stabilization matters more than early adaptation, and the danger of over-coaching innate movement patterns
47:00 – Start Point Geometry in High Jump — The counterintuitive truth about why a tighter start point along the bar axis makes curve mechanics worse, not better
51:27 – Dick Fosbury and a 50-Year Stagnation — Why Fosbury's 1968 technique still benchmarks elite collegiate high jumping today, and why high jumpers sustain career-ending injuries at a far greater rate than pole vaulters
57:00 – Body Type, Force, and Career Longevity — What Jonathan Edwards, Mutaz Barshim, and Sotomayor reveal about the relationship between mass, force application, and how long a body can sustain elite performance
1:03:12 – How to Reach David — David's open-source approach to mentorship and how coaches and athletes can get in touch

Contact David: dkerin@kerinperformanceinsights.com
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Angus Ross is the Strength and Conditioning and Power Physiology Lead with High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ), working with elite track & field athletes and multiple Olympic sports across lead coaching, s&c, and sport science. He is also a three-time Winter Olympian in bobsleigh and the full-time coach of New Zealand 60 m record holder Tiaan Whelpton.

His PhD focused on sprint performance and tapering, complemented by many peer-reviewed publications on topics including eccentric strength training and acceleration biomechanics.

In this episode, we dive into athlete profiling, training elastic vs muscular qualities, eccentric loading, and the art of individualising strength work for sprinters and jumpers.

Topics / Timestamps:
0:00 Angus’ background (PhD, high performance sport, Olympic experience)
3:05 Athlete profiling: vertical jump, drop jumps, optimal cadence & fiber type links
5:50 Training strengths vs weaknesses — what actually moves the needle
10:30 Case study: developing extreme power in sprinters
16:00 Force expression vs elastic efficiency in acceleration
26:30 Integrating S&C within a technical coaching framework
29:00 Pairing speed & strength — when to combine or separate sessions
34:00 Eccentric training: benefits, risks, and long-latency adaptations
42:50 How to program eccentric work without compromising speed
49:00 “How much strength is enough?” for elite sprinters
57:00 Isometrics, sarcomeres in series & speed development
1:05:20 Communication, trust & the evolving role of the coach

Angus's Research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angus-Ross
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Dr. Christopher Stanley (CMPC) is a sport and performance psychology professor at the University of Western States, former Lead Sport Psychologist for USA Track & Field across the Tokyo–Paris Olympic cycle, and the Atlanta Track Club Elite.
In this episode, Chris illustrates how coaches can implement mental skills training in track & field without adding extra time—covering practical tools for confidence, focus, and performance under pressure. In addition, the relational aspect of coaching is discussed throughout the conversation; Chris provides practical tips on how to improve communication and trust in coach-athlete dynamics. He is also the author of Right from the Start: Mental Performance Skills for Youth and Adolescent Athletes. 
Topics / Timestamps:
0:00 Chris’ background + USATF/Olympic experience
3:55 Selling sport psych to coaches + creating buy-in
8:20 Event-specific mental skills (sprints vs jumps vs distance)
14:20 The coach effect: demeanor, prompts, and regulation
21:40 Why “focus” and “wake up” cues often fail
30:10 Mental performance at the Olympics & World Champs
39:30 Breathwork, pressure, and physiological regulation
46:10 Self-talk, imagery, and quick redirection strategies
51:10 Rapport, autonomy, and motivation frameworks
57:30 Chris’ book + practical resources for coaches

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This episode brings together three coaches with documented success coaching the 400 meters and 4×400 m relay within the NCAA system.
Ernie Clark, the Head Coach for sprints, hurdles, and jumps at Northern Arizona University, previously coached at San José State and Ashland University. He has guided athletes such as Trevor Bassitt, Myles Pringle, and Jeremiah Walker to 45-second performances, while also producing multiple school and conference record holders in the 400 m. Most recently, Clark led the NAU women’s 4×400 m relay to the NCAA Championships, where they ran a school and conference record of 3:31.28.
Bob Thurnhoffer, the first-ever guest on the podcast, continues to expand an already accomplished résumé. Now an Assistant Coach at the University of Louisville, he coached Synclair Savage to the NCAA Outdoor Championship title in the women’s long jump this past season. During his two seasons at the University of New Mexico, Thurnhoffer coached Rivaldo Leacock and Jovahn Williamson to NCAA final appearances in the 400 m hurdles and 400 m, respectively, while also guiding Jevon O’Bryant and Brodie Young to multiple 45-second performances, culminating in his men’s 4×400 m relay reaching the NCAA final.
Jason Wakenight, Assistant Coach at the University of Iowa and a previous guest (Episode 22), has built one of the strongest reputations in the NCAA for developing elite 400–800 m training groups. During his time at Iowa he has coached two 44-second performers (Jenoah McKiver and Mar'yea Harris), six athletes under 45 seconds (2020 Big Ten athlete of the year, Wayne Lawrence Jr), and four 4×400 m relay teams under 3:01. In 2025, Wakenight led the Iowa men’s and women’s 4×400 m relay teams to 4th- and 6th-place finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. On the women’s side, Iowa broke both the indoor and outdoor school records last season, highlighted by a 3:26.90 outdoor performance in the 4×400 m relay. The Iowa men’s 4×400 m relay has reached the NCAA Outdoor final in five of the last eight championships and won seven of the last ten Big Ten outdoor titles.
Topics:
What truly defines elite 400 m training for men and women
Speed vs. special endurance and how to allocate training emphasis
Training the first 300 m versus the final 100 m of the race
Race modeling, split targets, and velocity management
Developing quarter-milers from different athlete profiles
Building championship-ready 4×400 m relay teams
Managing volume and intensity across long seasons
Confidence, belief systems, and execution under fatigue
Apologies for the audio/connection difficulties within this episode. 
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