High jump

Rules

The rules for the high jump are set internationally by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Jumpers must take off on one foot. A jump is considered a failure if the bar is dislodged by the action of the jumper whilst jumping or the jumper touches the ground or breaks the plane of the near edge of the bar before clearance. The technique one uses for the jump must be almost flawless in order to have a chance of clearing a high bar.

Competitors may begin jumping at any height announced by the chief judge, or may pass, at their own discretion. Three consecutive missed jumps, at any height or combination of heights, will eliminate the jumper from competition.

The victory goes to the jumper who clears the greatest height during the final. If two or more jumpers tie for first place, the tie-breakers are: 1) The fewest misses at the height at which the tie occurred; and 2) The fewest misses throughout the competition.

If the event remains tied for first place (or a limited advancement position to a subsequent meet), the jumpers have a jump-off, beginning at the next greater height. Each jumper has one attempt. The bar is then alternately lowered and raised until only one jumper succeeds at a given height.

History

The first recorded high jump event took place in Scotland in the 19th century. Early jumpers used either an elaborate straight-on approach or a scissors technique. In the later years, the bar was approached diagonally, and the jumper threw first the inside leg and then the other over the bar in a scissoring motion. Around the turn of the 20th century, techniques began to modernise, starting with the Irish-American Michael Sweeney's Eastern cut-off. By taking off like the scissors, but extending his back and flattening out over the bar, Sweeney achieved a more economic clearance and raised the world record to 1.97 m (6 ft 5 ¹⁄₂ in) in 1895.

Another American, George Horine, developed an even more efficient technique, the Western roll. In this style, the bar again is approached on a diagonal, but the inner leg is used for the take-off, while the outer leg is thrust up to lead the body sideways over the bar. Horine increased the world standard to 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) in 1912. His technique was predominant through the Berlin Olympics of 1936, in which the event was won by Cornelius Johnson at 2.03 m (6 ft 7 ³⁄₄ in).

American and Soviet jumpers held the playing field for the next four decades, and they pioneered the evolution of the straddle technique. Straddle jumpers took off as in the Western roll, but rotated their (belly-down) torso around the bar, obtaining the most economical clearance up to that time. Straddle-jumper Charles Dumas was the first to clear 7 feet (2.13 m), in 1956, and American John Thomas pushed the world mark to 2.23 m (7 ft 3 ³⁄₄ in) in 1960. Valeriy Brumel took over the event for the next four years. The elegant Soviet jumper radically sped up his approach run, took the record up to 2.28 m (7 ft 5 ³⁄₄ in), and won the Olympic gold medal in 1964, before a motorcycle accident ended his career.

American coaches, including two-time NCAA champion Frank Costello of the University of Maryland, flocked to Russia to learn from Brumel and his coaches. However, it would be a solitary innovator at Oregon State University, Dick Fosbury, who would bring the high jump into the next century. Taking advantage of the raised, softer landing areas by then in use, Fosbury added a new twist to the outmoded Eastern Cut-off. He directed himself over the bar head and shoulders first, sliding over on his back and landing in a fashion which would likely have broken his neck in the old, sawdust landing pits. After he used this Fosbury flop to win the 1968 Olympic gold medal, the technique began to spread around the world, and soon floppers were dominating international high jump competitions. The last straddler to set a world record was Vladimir Yashchenko, who cleared 2.33 m (7 ft 7 ¹⁄₂ in) in 1977 and then 2.35 m (7 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) indoors in 1978.

Among renowned high jumpers following Fosbury's lead were Americans Dwight Stones and his rival, 1.73 metres (5 ft 8 in) tall Franklin Jacobs of Paterson, NJ, who cleared 2.32 m (7 ft 7 ¹⁄₄ in), 0.59 metres (1 ft 11 in) over his head (a feat equaled 27 years later by Sweden's Stefan Holm); Chinese record-setters Ni-chi Chin and Zhu Jianhua; Germans Gerd Wessig and Dietmar Mögenburg; Swedish Olympic medalist and former world record holder Patrik Sjöberg; and female jumpers Iolanda Balaş of Romania, Ulrike Meyfarth of Germany and Italy's Sara Simeoni.

The approach run

The approach run of the high jump may actually be more important than the take-off. If a high jumper runs with bad timing or without enough aggression, clearing a high bar becomes more of a challenge. The approach requires a certain shape or curve, the right amount of speed, and the correct number of strides. The approach angle is also critical for optimal height.

Most great straddle jumpers have a run at angles of about 30 to 40 degrees. The length of the run is determined by the speed of the person's approach. A slower run requires about 8 strides. However, a faster high jumper might need about 13 strides. A greater run speed allows a greater part of the body's forward momentum to be converted upward .

The J type approach, favored by Fosbury floppers, allows for horizontal speed, the ability to turn in the air (centripetal force), and good take-off position. The approach should be a hard controlled stride so that a person does not fall from creating an angle with speed. Athletes should run tall and lean on the curve, from the ankles and not the hips.

The take-off

Unlike the classic straddle technique, where the take-off foot is "planted" in the same spot at every height, flop-style jumpers must adjust their take-off as the bar is raised. Their J approach run must be adjusted slightly so that their take-off spot is slightly further out from the bar in order to allow their hips to clear the bar while still maintaining enough momentum to carry their legs across the bar. Jumpers attempting to reach record heights commonly fail when most of their energy is directed into the vertical effort, and they brush the bar off the standards with the backs of their legs as they stall out in mid-air.

An effective approach shape can be derived from physics. For example, the rate of backward spin required as the jumper crosses the bar to facilitate shoulder clearance on the way up and foot clearance on the way down can be determined by computer simulation. This rotation rate can be back-calculated to determine the required angle of lean away from the bar at plant, based on how long the jumper is on the take-off foot. This information, together with the jumper's speed in the curve, can be used to calculate the radius of the curved part of the approach. This is a lot of work and requires measurements of running speed and time of take-off foot on the ground. However, one can work in the opposite direction by assuming an approach radius and watching the resulting backward rotation. This only works if some basic rules are followed in how one executes the approach and take-off.

Drills can be practiced to solidify the approach. One drill is to run in a straight line (the linear part of the approach) and then run two to three circles spiraling into one another. Another is to run or skip a circle of any size, two to three times in a row. It is important to train to leap upwards without first leaning into the bar, allowing the momentum of the J approach to carry the body across the bar.

Winner declaration

In competition the winner is the person who cleared the highest height. In case of a tie, fewer failed attempts at that height are better: i.e., the jumper who makes a height on his or her first attempt is placed ahead of someone who clears the same height on the second or third attempt. If there still is a tie, all the failed attempts at lower heights are added up, and the one with the fewest total misses is declared the winner. If still tied, a playoff is held. Starting height is the next higher height after the overjumped one. If all the competitors clear the height, the bar is raised 2 cm (0.79 in), and if they fail, the bar is lowered 2 cm. That continues until only one competitor succeeds in overjumping that height, and he or she is declared the winner.

All-time top 25 athletes

Notes

Below is a list of jumps equal or superior to 2.40m:

Notes

Below is a list of jumps equal or superior to 2.06m:

Women

Athletes with most medals

Athletes who have won multiple titles at the two most important competitions, the Olympic Games and the World Championships:

Kostadinova and Sotomayor are the only high jumpers to have been Olympic Champion, World Champion and broken the world record.

Season's bests

Height differentials

All time lists of athletes with the highest recorded jumps above their own height.

Female two metres club

As of January 2017, 66 different female athletes had ever been able to jump 2.00 m (6 ft 6 ¹⁄₂ in).