Sebastian Bayer – 8.71m Long Jump

The world is still buzzing about Sebastian Bayer’s 8.71m Long Jump on his 6th and final jump. And it wasn’t performed with a fancy 2-and-a-half hitch kick either.

Here’s a good question for Track and Field Coaches:

In the long jump and triple jump, should you try to win the jump on your first jump?

Or try to win it on the last jump?

My answer is, it depends.

If I need the athlete in other events, such as the 60m, 100m, or 4x100m relay, I may ask him or her to get 1 or 2 good jumps early, and possibly pass on the rest of the jumps if there is a scheduling conflict. Points is points in a championship.

I used to do Long Jump, Triple Jump, 60m & 300m (heats and finals), 4x200m and 4×400 relays over 2 days. The meet started at 7pm Friday night and ended at 1pm Saturday afternoon! Have you ever tried to Triple Jump at 9am when you ran the 4x200m at midnight?

Carl Lewis vs. Mike Powell, 1991

Sometimes, competition brings out the best in you.

One of the greatest competitions and rivalries was the 1991 Worlds Championships in Tokyo. The rivalry between Carl Lewis and Mike Powell brought out the best in both athletes. In the post-competition interview, Carl claimed he had the greatest series of jumps ever recorded.

But Mike had one better. Winning with a World Record was more important. And not just any World Record. One of the oldest WR at the time: Bob Beamon’s 8.90m (29 feet 2.5 inches) from the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

Rock Hard Tracks

If the track runway is rock hard, the energy transfer required will zap your legs by the 6th and final round. Especially triple jump.

6 quality jumps is no big deal. That’s easily performed in a workout on any given day. The waiting, the nervous energy… and you never want to set a PB in a workout either!

Here are the top 5 indoor jumps of all time, updated as of March 8, 2009:

• 8.79 Carl Lewis 27/01/1984
• 8.71 Sebastian Bayer 08/03/2009
• 8.62 Ivan Pedroso 07/03/1999
• 8.60 Ivan Pedroso 16/02/1997
• 8.59 Miguel Pate 01/03/2002

I had posted some potential 9 meter jumps of Irving Saladino and Ivan Pedroso earlier.

Here is Sebastian Bayer’s 8.71m Long Jump on YouTube:

UPDATE: Sorry, the video is no longer on YouTube.

Here is a partial quotation from the IAAF. I love the simplicity of the hang technique:

“There was no stress for me after the first jump,” said Beyer, “so I felt relaxed and it felt like the perfect jump, I knew it was far and hoped for 8.30 to may be 8.40, but I did not expect 8.71, I was speechless.”

“It has to sink in yet, so I can’t say anything now regarding on the significance of this jump for German athletics history.”

“After my first jump I asked Nils (Winter) if he knew what the European record was – when he answered that it is 8.56m I replied, oh ok, that is a bit too far for today.”

“Right now I cannot tell you how I managed to jump that far, but the run-up and the set-up of the Long Jump was very good – we also saw that yesterday in the women’s event – additionally right before my final jump the German anthem was playing for Ariane Friedrich, that was very motivating for me.”