What is the High Jump World Record by Height Differential?

When Usain Bolt ran 9.58 with a +0.9 tailwind, the calculators adjusted his actual time to 9.63 (using wind and altitude).

Justin Gatlin’s recent 9.78 (-0.3) in Monaco was adjusted to 9.76.  (Yes, he can go 9.69 on Beijing in a perfect race and slight tailwind with Usain Bolt!  Let the haters hate!)

Why bother with adjusted times?  You might as well remove the reaction time, because that’s what they really ran.

A complete list of adjusted times can be found on the Track and Field News website.

What is the High Jump World Record by Height Differential?

Back in my days of competition, Franklin Jacobs of the USA personal best of 2.32m or  7 ft 7.25 inches… a world indoor record back in 1978.  His differential was 59 cm or 23 inches above his own height listed at 1.73m or 5 ft 8 in!

That record is now held jointly with Stefan Holm.  At 1.81m tall, was able to high jump 2.40m, for a 59 cm differential above his head.  Incredible!

Here is some archive videos of Franklin Jacobs on YouTube just to show the height differential:

Women’s High Jump WR Differential

For women, the record belongs to Antonietta di Martino at 1.68m tall, her personal and Italian NR of 2.04m, with a differential of 36 cm.

Other Notables:

• Inika McPherson, 1.65m tall, a 2.00m PB, with a differential of 35 cm.
• Blanka Vlasic’s PB is an amazing 2.08m but her height is 1.93m, thus a differential of 15 cm.  But she is still fun to watch :)
• Anna Cicherova’s PB is 2.07m and height is 1.80m, a differential of 27 cm
• Finally, the World record holder Stefka Kostadinova has a differential of 29 cm with the WR at 2.09 and only 1.80m tall.