Why does my jumper's approach run look different from their flat sprint?
A long or triple jump approach is not just a shorter sprint. The last two steps are built on purpose to set up a takeoff rather than to keep accelerating.
A coach watches a long jumper's approach and it looks nothing like their open sprint, shorter steps near the end, a posture that seems to drop, and the instinct is to call it a flaw. For the last two steps, it usually is not one.
The approach is supposed to change at the end
Most of a horizontal jumper's approach, somewhere between 10 and 20 strides depending on the athlete, is meant to look like real sprinting: full knee drive, full arm action, no holding back to save something for the board. The last two steps are the exception, and they are supposed to look different, because the job there stops being acceleration and becomes converting speed into a controlled takeoff.
What actually should change, and what should not
- The penultimate step typically lengthens a little, which lowers the hips and sets up the plant.
- The final step typically shortens and quickens, turning that lowered position into an upward push rather than letting speed run straight into the ground.
- Everything before those last two steps should still look like a genuine sprint, not a cautious version of one.
- A jumper whose entire approach looks tentative, not just the last two steps, is usually not running the earlier part at full effort, which is a different problem from a correct late-approach change.
Checking which one you are actually looking at
Film the open sprint with the sprint setting and the approach with the long or triple jump setting, and compare the early-approach numbers, cadence, overstride, trunk lean, against the open sprint. They should be close. Then look at the last two steps on their own against the takeoff angle and hip rise numbers, which is where the deliberate change is supposed to show up.
A single 2D camera can tell you the numbers changed in the last two steps. It cannot tell you whether that change was the athlete executing the plan or the athlete rushing and losing composure right before the board, and that distinction still takes watching it live or asking how the step felt.
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Related
Which muscles matter most for a long jumper's takeoff?
The board asks the jump leg to do a different job than the approach just finished doing, and the muscles that matter most shift in the final two steps.
Read →How many steps back should a triple jumper's run-up be?
Longer is not better in triple jump the way it is in long jump, because a faster approach only helps if the hop, step and jump can still absorb the speed.
Read →Should a high jumper's last two steps speed up or slow down?
Neither sprinting flat through the plant nor stomping on the brakes works, and film is one of the few ways to actually see which one is happening.
Read →Try it: Sprint timer app: 40-yard dash and flying sprints with one phone