Tie in sprint with initial change of direction (4)
I believe the answer is:
lace
'tie' is the definition.
(I know that lace is a more specific form of the action tie)
'sprint with initial change of direction' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'change' could be 'ace' (ace is a kind of change) and 'ace' is present in the answer.
'direction' could be 'l' (short for left) and 'l' is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lace that I've seen before include "Spike - ornamental fabric" , "Famous play ''Arsenic and Old . . . .''" , "Shoe tie" , "Delicate open-weave fabric" , "Fortify with spirits; open fabric" .)