The 2024 Paris Olympics are fast approaching, and the world’s best athletes will compete for gold on the track, road and field. Is there the potential for a new Olympic sport that defies traditional athletic norms? Enter water sprinting—a phenomenon demonstrated by basilisk lizards and a bird called the Western grebe. Scientists are exploring the idea of whether humans could also manage this remarkable feat, as reported by physicsworld.com.
How do animals do it?
The basilisk lizard, often called the “Jesus Christ lizard” for its ability to sprint across water, can escape predators by briefly running on the water’s surface. Dr. Tonia Hsieh, a biologist at Harvard University, studied the way lizards defy gravity. Hsieh discovered that when the lizards run, their large feet slap the water, creating a force that propels them forward and upward. Hsieh’s research showed that while these lizards can run on water due to their speed and foot size, balancing on this ever-changing surface is still a significant challenge.
Humans and water running
The idea of humans mastering the ability to speed across watery surfaces is appealing, but challenging. Harvard researchers Tom McMahon and Jim Glasheen developed a mathematical model suggesting that to run on water, a human would need to slap the water with a force nearly 15 times greater than the maximum power we can exert. The basilisk is also running on a yielding surface, unlike humans on a track or road.
More recent experiments have explored reduced gravity conditions to simulate water running. Their findings showed that while humans could manage a few seconds of water running in 10 per cent Earth gravity, the speeds and forces required on Earth make this impossible.
Sha’Carri Richardson could sprint in space
Titan, Saturn’s moon, offers a potential venue for water running. With only 13.8 per cent of Earth’s gravity and lakes of liquid ethane, could athletes like Richardson, the current women’s 100m champion, run on Titan’s surface? Richardson’s sprinting abilities just might make it possible to run across Titan’s ethane lakes, though she would have to deal with extremely cold temperatures.
While water running remains a phenomenon we marvel at in nature rather than a viable Olympic sport (at least for now), it sparks the imagination about what might be possible in different environments. If space exploration continues to advance, we might one day see Olympians racing across the waters of distant planets.
