Abstract: Rapid reaction ability is an important component of track athletes, and has close correlation with their sport performance. This study collected the elite athletes' reaction time and their sport performance in 60 m and 60 m hurdles from the four World Indoor Championships from 2012 to 2018 to examine the law of change, gender difference and the relationship between reaction time and sport performance. The results suggest that: (1) the gender difference in start reaction time only appears at certain stages of some events, and not in all the events; (2) the difference in start reaction time mainly exists in the first round and semi-final stage of the match, but not in the final stage; (3) there is moderate to high significant positive correlation between start reaction time and sport performance in 60 m and 60 m hurdles.

Key words: 60 m, 60 m hurdles, start reaction time, sport performance