Why does my high jumper always miss to one side of the bar?
Missing wide or short is usually a height problem. Missing to one side is usually a line problem.
A high jumper who clips the bar on the same side every time, meet after meet, is not failing to get high enough. Height problems miss the bar short, coming down before the peak of the arc. A jumper who consistently drifts to one side has a line problem in the approach, and it usually starts several steps before the plant.
Where the drift comes from
The curved approach is meant to lean the jumper inward through the last few steps so the takeoff rotates them square over the bar. If the curve tightens too early or too late, the plant foot lands slightly off the line the rest of the approach set up, and the jumper takes off already angled toward one side of the bar instead of straight along it. Small at the plant, it is a visible drift by the time they are over the bar.
What to check before changing anything else
- Whether the same side gets clipped every time, which points at the approach line rather than at random inconsistency.
- Whether the last three steps of the curve are even, or whether one of them is noticeably longer or shorter than the others.
- Whether the plant foot lands on the same spot relative to the standards each attempt, or moves around.
What the high jump setting reports, and what it does not
The Film Room's high jump setting reports hip rise as a share of the athlete's height, takeoff angle, and knee fold and extension through the jump, all of which are read along the plane of the jump itself. None of them are built to measure sideways drift down the runway, because the camera is framed to see the arc over the bar, not the approach from behind.
A single camera positioned to read takeoff angle and hip rise cannot also show left-to-right drift on the approach. Seeing the curve itself needs a second angle, filmed from behind the bar looking back down the runway, which is a different clip entirely from the one the Film Room analyses.
Time your next meet with the phones you already have
Timing, the Film Room and the speed gates are free forever. Publishing results to your own page starts at $59 a month.
Related
Why does your high jumper's plant foot never land in the same spot?
A side-on camera reads the vertical arc of a jump well and has no idea where the plant foot actually landed on the ground, which is usually the real question.
Read →Why does my high jumper's takeoff leg stay bent instead of straightening at the top of the jump?
The takeoff leg is meant to snap straight in a fraction of a second, and whatever extension goes missing there, height goes missing with it.
Read →How long should a high jumper's approach be?
The honest answer is set by how many strides it takes an athlete to reach a speed they can still control on the curve, not a number to copy.
Read →