Which foot lands during the step phase of a triple jump?
The hop, step and jump follow a strict alternating pattern, and getting it backwards wrecks the whole sequence.
Parents and new coaches get this backwards more often than you would expect, usually because the whole sequence happens in under two seconds and the foot pattern is the least obvious part of it.
The pattern, foot by foot
The jumper takes off from the board on one foot, and that same foot has to do the hop. The step and the jump then alternate from there.
- Hop: the takeoff foot leaves the board and lands on itself. Same foot, out and back down.
- Step: that landing foot pushes off again, and the athlete lands on the opposite foot.
- Jump: the opposite foot drives into the final effort, and the athlete lands in the pit on both feet.
So a right-foot takeoff goes right, right, left, both. There is no version where the same foot does the hop and the step. If that is happening, something upstream has already gone wrong.
Why this is hard to see on film
From the side, at full speed, the step phase is one ground contact buried between two longer-looking phases. Coaches who try to call the foot pattern live, standing at the runway, miss it as often as they get it right. On a slowed-down clip it is obvious. In real time it is not.
What the Film Room checks instead of a guess
The triple jump setting in the Film Room counts phases from the hip trace rather than asking the coach to call them, and reports the first takeoff angle, the hip rise in each phase, and overstride on the runway. None of that replaces watching the clip, but it means a coach is not relying on a split-second read to know how the hop, step and jump actually broke down.
A single 2D camera can confirm the pattern and the phase timing, but it cannot certify which board the athlete left from or measure the actual distance jumped. That needs a second reference point, or an official at the pit, not a phone on the side of the runway.
Time your next meet with the phones you already have
Timing, the Film Room and the speed gates are free forever, with no account. A Club plan, $71 a month, puts your meets on your own results page, and one plan covers every phone.
Related
Which leg should a triple jumper take off from?
The leg choice happens once, at the board, and the rest of the sequence follows from it rather than being decided again at each phase.
Read →How do you coach triple jump if you've never done it yourself?
Most of what a first-year jumps coach needs is the phase order, a short run-up, and the patience to keep the hop low.
Read →Why does my triple jumper's landing come up short even when it looks fine?
A triple jump mark is measured from where the body touches sand closest to the board, and a clean-looking landing can still cost you that distance.
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