Question: In long distance it seems an athlete has to put in a lot more training, whereas in short distance it's pure natural talent. You almost just have to bring out the natural talent.

SUDHAHOTA: But a lot of little things mean much more. You get killed in sprints by the small things, not the big things. You have to spend so much time on starts, running the turn, accelerating. You have to spend so much time on the very, very small technical things, whereas distance runners focus on the large things — just to run. So we really put in just as much time but it’s more on the little things. That’s really the major difference.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Carl Lewis: the champion inner runner, Agni Press, 1991
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/cl_2