I developed a simple formula to equalise sprinting performances achieved with varying wind strengths, both assisting & unfavourable.

My principle aim was to adjust an athlete’s time in such a way that it is then ‘directly’ comparable to any other result of the same athlete or any other athlete. There is no specific science involved other than it is obvious to assume a sprinter will always achieve a slower time running into a wind, & certainly a much slower time running into a strong headwind.

It is debatable just how much wind strength affects an athlete’s performance but I have decided on a parameter that I am very happy with. Please note that this is not an exact science but only an attempt at equalising performances to aid ‘direct’ comparisons between results.

The consensus of general opinion is that wind assistance may be measured at a gain of 0.05 seconds per +1.0 metre per second of wind for 100m. Therefore, an athlete running 10.20 seconds with 0.0 m/s wind (calm conditions) might otherwise achieve a time of 10.10 seconds if the wind had been at the maximum allowable for legal results +2.0 m/s.

My formula is a little bit more generous & I allow 0.07 seconds per +1.0 m/s for 100m. This is also relevant for headwind affected results.

Regardless of the amount of gain or loss decided upon by any wind strength, any formula would have an equalising affect if considering that any wind measurement is accurate across all performances (which actually is unlikely). So essentially my wind calculator is merely a guide to comparing performances; & it throws up some very surprising outcomes at times.

So, I have decided on 0.07 seconds per 1.0 m/s of wind, gain or loss. Also, I have chosen a base of +1.0 m/s for the sake of comparison of results; not 0.0 m/s as you would expect. I have done this for a few reasons –

Most athletic-specific stadiums & tracks are designed & built in order to make use of prevailing winds; a result achieved with favourable wind is certainly making use of that design,

There is an upper limit to allowable wind strengths for legal purposes, +2.0 m/s, but no lower limit for headwind results (understandably),

My wind assisted results list allows for assisting wind strengths with no upper limit; an example being a hand timed result achieved in 1976 with wind assistance of +16.6 m/s, &

+1.0 m/s is half of the maximum assisting wind allowed for legal results; an assisting legal wind is always desired & fortuitous when it happens & aids in achieving record performances.

Therefore, all results adjusted using the calculator are based on +1.0 m/s wind assistance, so a result achieved with +1.0 m/s shows no adjustment to the time. A time achieved with +2.0 m/s wind assistance will show an addition of 0.07 seconds to the time. A time with -2.0 m/s wind will show a reduction of 0.21 seconds to the time (3 X0.07), etc.

All of my lists have the ‘Adj’ column, or wind adjustment column, which utilises the formula mentioned to show the adjusted result according to the wind recorded.

Using the wind calculator

I have allowed for the inputting of 10 results for comparison. There are a number of ways of utilising the calculator to compare results achieved with varying winds.

For an individual you can input any 10 results with any type of wind, including wind assisted & negative wind (headwind), to compare the adjusted times,

For a group of athletes, e.g. those trying to qualify for a final of 8 or 9 runners, you can input the 10 best qualifying times & relevant wind readings for their heat to compare the adjusted times (this would aid any Form Guide analysis, especially when a large discrepancy in wind readings between heats is evident), &

For any type of comparison for any athlete or different athletes’ results, especially in a major competition.

Regarding Note 2, it is interesting to compare wind adjusted results when, for example, an event with 3 semi-finals results in 24 or 27 performances with 3 different wind readings. One semi-final may have a strongly assisting wind & one semi-final may have a strongly opposing wind. The athletes in the strongly opposing wind heat are always adversely affected & generally of the non-automatic qualifiers able to move through to the next round this usually does not include these athletes. I have seen many examples of this whilst putting my lists together, also to the point where gold medals are decided in an event like the decathlon because a ‘lucky’ athlete achieved better times in the 2 sprint events because they had favourable winds & an ‘unlucky’ athlete achieved worse times in the 2 sprint events because they had unfavourable winds. Gold medals decided on luck; such an unfortunate & unequitable situation.

I hope all this makes sense & that you can have some fun with it.

On medium sized devices such as tablets, the best experience may be had by rotating the device to a landscape view.

This view is crafted for larger screen sizes.  To use the Wind Adjusted Calculator that is optimised for smaller screen sizes such as mobile phones and tablets, click here.