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Why your triple jump hop is too big

A tall first phase feels powerful and leaves nothing for the step and the jump.

The triple jump punishes the phase that feels best. A big hop feels like a good start, and it is usually the reason the rest of the jump collapses.

Three phases, one budget

The athlete arrives at the board with a fixed amount of horizontal speed and no way of adding more. Every phase spends some of it. A hop that goes up rather than out spends a large share on height that contributes nothing, and the step and jump are then performed by an athlete travelling slower than they were a second earlier.

This is why a jumper can feel strong through the hop and land short. The first phase was the problem and the last phase took the blame.

What to look at

• The takeoff angle of the first phase. Steep is the warning sign. A flat, long hop is the goal.
• Whether the three phases look roughly even, rather than one big one followed by two small ones.
• Whether the runway is still being sprinted, or whether the athlete is already braking into the board.

StatLap counts the phases from the hip trace and reports the first takeoff angle, so you can see a tall hop rather than argue about one. Hop-hop-step ladders and standing triples from a walk-in are the usual remedies, both because they are slow enough to feel and short enough to repeat.

Phase balance is a coaching judgement, not a fixed rule, and it varies with the athlete. The number is there to start the conversation, not to end it.

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