World Athletics are contemplating a radical change to lengthy bounce

World Athletics are contemplating one of the radical adjustments within the historical past of the lengthy bounce, with a take-off board to get replaced by a zone.

Under the proposal, which is already being trialled, athletes could have a much bigger designated space on the runway to launch their bounce, which can then be measured from the precise level of take-off to the place they land within the sand.

Currently, the place to begin of a bounce is taken as the sting of the mounted wood board, slightly than the place a competitor truly takes off.

World Athletics have provide you with the thought to make sure that ‘every single jump counts’ after information confirmed them {that a} third of all efforts ultimately summer season’s World Championships have been fouls, the place an athlete had overstepped the board.

The new idea will initially be examined at low-level conferences this yr and, if it proves to achieve success, it could possibly be rolled out for elite competitions from 2026 forward of the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

Speaking to the Anything But Footy podcast, World Athletics chief government Jon Ridgeon defined: ‘We are trying to tackle the events that perhaps are less popular. How can we make them more popular, more exciting, more engaging?

‘If you take the long jump, at the World Championships, a third of all the jumps were no-jumps. That doesn’t work. That’s a waste of time.

‘So we are testing a take-off zone rather than a take-off board. We will measure from where the athlete takes off to where they land in the pit.

‘That means every single jump counts. It adds to the jeopardy and drama in the competition. At the same time, we are working out ways we can get instant results so you don’t have to attend 20 to 30 seconds earlier than the consequence pops up. We get it immediately.

‘It’s about making what we have now obtained already much more entertaining for the long run.’

The lengthy bounce has been round because the historical Olympic Games and was one of many occasions which made up the pentathlon in 708 BC. It is believed the bounce was produced from a board even then. It has additionally been a part of each trendy Olympics from after they began in Athens in 1896.

Notable former Olympic lengthy bounce champions embrace Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis of the USA and Great Britain’s Greg Rutherford.

‘You cannot make change in a sport that was basically invented 150 years ago without some controversy,’ stated Ridgeon.

‘But we think it is worth doing. This is not about next year, but making sure we have got a sport that is fit for purpose for another 150 years.

‘We will spend this year testing it in real life circumstances with very good athletes. If it doesn’t move testing, we’ll by no means introduce it. We usually are not going to introduce issues on a whim as a result of one in all us thinks it’s a good suggestion.

‘In terms of a global level, a lot of these ideas may not be even introduced until 2026. We really want to spend the next two years thoroughly working them through and then we will introduce them.

‘Jazmin Sawyers (Britain’s European indoor champion) is an excellent vibrant athlete and I believe she’s somebody who is an efficient instance who will embrace change and work with us, however she won’t.

‘If you have dedicated your life to hitting that take-off board perfectly and then suddenly we replace it with a take-off zone, I totally get that there might be initial resistance.

‘But as long as it is based on good testing and good data, I think eventually it will work through.

The long jump changes could be seen for the first time at a new-look global event World Athletics will launch in 2026.

‘We are creating a new global championship to plug the gap in the years where we don’t have a giant international championship,’ added Ridgeon.

‘It won’t be a mimic of the present World Championships. It might be quicker paced, shorter. We are three nights.

‘Athletes are very much still competing in their national strips, representing their nations, but it will be very much best of the best, competing for the biggest prize pot that there has ever been in athletics.

‘Quite a lot of the innovation that we are working on now, this is probably the moment we will unveil it in terms of the global platform.’

Meanwhile, Josh Kerr will go for extra international glory in entrance of his dwelling Scottish crowd after opting to run in subsequent week’s World Indoor Championships.

The world 1500metres champion’s participation in Glasgow was unsure, with many high stars skipping the occasion to give attention to this summer season’s Olympics in Paris.

But Kerr was on Monday named in a small Great Britain squad, recent from breaking the two-mile world report in New York earlier this month.

The 26-year-old will race within the 3,000m and is the one particular person medallist from final yr’s out of doors World Championships in Britain’s get together of 20.

Kerr’s fellow Scot, Laura Muir, will even run the three,000m in Glasgow, the place she might add to her tally of world medals, which incorporates an Olympic 1500m silver and world bronze.

Jemma Reekie, the Scottish 800m runner, and pole vaulter Molly Caudery are Britain’s different high medal contenders subsequent week.

‘This is a really exciting squad that includes global medallists as well as athletes who will be hoping to make an impact on the world stage for the first time,’ stated Olympic head coach Paula Dunn.

Of Britain’s particular person medallists from final summer season’s World Championships in Budapest, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Keely Hodgkinson, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Zharnel Hughes and Ben Pattison are all lacking Glasgow with the Olympics in thoughts.

But their absence has been defended by Muir, who stated: ‘I completely understand it. That initially was my plan. But if I missed out on the only chance to run a global championships in Scotland, I’d be gutted. I just couldn’t miss that opportunity.’