Abstract

Although biomechanical research on elite long jumpers has increased knowledge about the event, the analyses conducted to date suffer from certain limitations, including small sample sizes and few studies on women. Among issues that are still open are the statistical reliability of findings about the horizontal and vertical components of take-off velocity and whether findings are equally valid for men and women. This study based on the published findings from six major events to give a larger data set, analysed both take-off velocity components with three different statistical criteria for a total of 42 women who jumped between 6.14 and 7.40m. This allowed comparisons of the impact of both components on the results and the possibility to test five hypotheses. Among the findings are a) better jumpers have more than coincidental advantages over others in both the horizontal and vertical components of take-off velocity, with the vertical being much more distinct, b) the ratio of horizontal to vertical take-off velocity differs in the studied athletes from 2.1 to 3.6 and c) excellent jumps can be achieved with very different combinations of the two components, but overall the ratio of more successful athletes is significantly lower. Verf.-Referat