The foot and ankle structure of human sprinters resembles that of cheetahs and greyhounds, a new study reports.

Compared with nonsprinters, they have longer forefeet and their ankle joints are closer to their Achilles tendon.

As in their speedy counterparts in the animal kingdom, this structure provides force generating advantages to the calf muscles, said the study’s first author, Josh Baxter, a doctoral student doing research in biomechanics at Penn State. He and his colleagues published the findings in The Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Image Credit... Chris Gash

“If you have a longer forefoot, you’re able to stay in contact with the ground for a longer period of time, and this allows you to push off better and move forward at the start of the sprint race,” Mr. Baxter said.