Sergei who?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Armand Duplantis has just beaten the pole vault world record in Rome. Is it a comparable thing, or have they got bendier poles nowadays, like golfers have got whippier clubs?

[Satchmo Distel]

It's the outdoor record. He's gone higher indoors. Bubka's record had been held longer than Bob Beamon's, but had been broken three times indoors.

I dunno, Bubka's pole always seemed pretty bendy. I think it's the huge arm strength needed to defy gravity when the pole is at the max, a bit like the old Soviet gymnasts on the rings. I'm not sure whether that can be achieved by totally non-pharmaceutical means, even leaving aside TAB-like levels of suspicion.

Mike Powell's record is taking longer to break (29 years) and you wonder how the fuck he managed it (Beamon had altitude).

[Various Artist]

The fact that he and Carl Lewis both put in a series of such incredible jumps in that Tokyo '91 long jump final may or may not account for it. That is, they were both in top form and able to push each other to unprecedented (and subsequently unmatched) distances, one could argue. Or else the crucial factor might've simply been that the track and conditions were just perfect for long jumping that night. I suppose the most likely answer is that it was a combination of both things – a perfect storm, if you like.

The fact that Powell's 8.95 is still a league better than anyone else has managed in the nearly three decades since, and it was set without having the (unfair?) advantage of Mexico City's altitude, to me makes it ironically a more Beamonesque achievement than even Beamon's in many ways. I do feel he doesn't get enough credit, especially now it's actually lasted longer than the previous record did.

[Various Artist]

The fact that both the men's and women's triple jump world records have now stood for quarter of a century demonstrates nicely what a unique combination of speed, technique and luck (with track, conditions, etc.) that event requires, as anyone will tell you. And furthermore, Jonathan Edwards' three WRs in quick succession in the summer of '95 were the first time the men's had been broken in just over a decade, and before that the previous mark had also stood for nearly a decade – i.e. since the five records set in 24 hours at Mexico City '68, there's only been new ones set in 1971, 1972, 1975, 1985 and 1995. (And that '75 one was also set in Mexico City, with a properly Beamonesque increase from 17.44m to 17.89m.)

But the fact that the men's long-jump record has been broken once since 1968 also amply demonstrates that jumping really, really far under any circumstances is manifestly not easy, even if you're only doing the one leap instead of three. The women's, meanwhile, was set in 1988 by Galina Chistyakova, which perhaps amplifies the point, though goodness knows there's a whole bunch of records set in that era, particularly women's one and by Eastern Bloc athletes, which have proven untouchable for whatever reason... The women's high jump also fits into that category, and for that matter Javier Sotomayor's men's high jump record has stood since 1993 and he has been the holder since 1989. Clearly jumping a really long way in any direction is incredibly difficult.

[San Bernardhinault]

Isn’t it also the case that long jump is just the red headed child of athletics these days? There’s little glamour or prestige. And it requires being an elite sprinter. Elite sprinters either go into more lucrative sports now or stay on the track and don’t have time to work on jumping technique.

[ad hoc]

Armand Duplantis is a brilliant name for a pole vaulter

[Sporting]

I'm not sure thst we're not reaching the limits of human athletic improvement. Any new record breaking could easily be attributed to better equipment and kinder surfaces.

Horses in general don't run appreciably quicker than tney did 100 years ago, do they? I'm not sure, however, if this has relevance to humans.

[Antepli Ejderha]

The fact that Carl Lewis is a drugs cheat tends to taint Mike Powell imho.

[Sporting]

The fact that Carl Lewis is a drugs cheat .

I am absolutely no expert but a quick google throws up many uncertainties and unknowns about this.

[tee rex]

Clearly jumping a really long way in any direction is incredibly difficult.

At least for up, forward and back. Not down ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87

[David Agnew]

Bob Beamon's jump was a phenomenon. The perfect jump. Conditions were ideal (altitude, and the wind speed was the maximum legal limit of +2.0), but the world record going into the competition was 8.35m jointly held by Ralph Boston (in Modesto, California in 1965) and Igor Ter-Ovaneysan (in Mexico City the previous year). The second best jump at the Olympics (by Boston) was 8.27 - less than his existing world record, but also with the wind speed of +2.0.

The sprints tell a slightly different story.

In the mens, Jim Hines also broke the 10s barrier for the 100m for the first time at an Olympics with a time of 9.95 (9.9 hand-timed) Hines was one of three men to record a hand times 9.9 on the same night in the US Championships earlier in the year, but was unofficially electronically timed at 10.03, and the 200m record was also broken by around two tenths of a second by Tommie Smith (hand timed 19.8, electronically 19.83) breaking the 20s barrier for the first time. In the 400m, Lee Evans beat Larry James' record by 0.3 seconds.

The womens sprints were similar. Wymona Tyius took 1s off Irena Szewinska'a 100m record, with Szewinska taking 0.2 seconds off her own 200m record. Colette Besson's winning time in the 400m was slower than the world record set six years earlier by the North Korean Sin Kim-dan in Pyongyang (Sin claimed eight world record marks, but this was the only one that was ratified).

All the new sprint records edged the time, no-one broke a record as convincingly as Beamon did.

It's the outdoor record. He's gone higher indoors. Bubka's record had been held longer than Bob Beamon's, but had been broken three times indoors.

I dunno, Bubka's pole always seemed pretty bendy. I think it's the huge arm strength needed to defy gravity when the pole is at the max, a bit like the old Soviet gymnasts on the rings. I'm not sure whether that can be achieved by totally non-pharmaceutical means, even leaving aside TAB-like levels of suspicion.

Mike Powell's record is taking longer to break (29 years) and you wonder how the fuck he managed it (Beamon had altitude).

Prior to the Championships, the organisers were hopeful of numerous world records being broken, because they'd recently relaid the track, and by the time the Championships rolled around, the track was at it's optimum for sprinting. Newly laid tracks have an extra springiness, which helps sprinters and jumpers. Lewis beat Beamon's distance, but the wind assistance was too high for it to be a legal world record jump, but Powell's jump of 8.95 was wind assisted at +2.0, just like Beamon's.

The 100m final was astonishing at the time, as six of the finalists broke the 10s barrier. This hasn't happened at a World Championships since, and didn't happen at the Olympics until 2008. Leroy Burrell broke his existing world record of 9.90 in the final, but finished second.

The following year, Powell jumped even further than his World Record - a 8.99m jump in Sestriere, but this time, the wind level was +4.4, double the legal distance, so isn't considered a world record.

[Satchmo Distel]

Great stuff, David.

[Various Artist]

Seconded – I hadn't known Powell almost beat the 9m mark later. I'd also never considered how Beamon's jump didn't occur in a vacuum: that is, it had never occurred to me to check what the other competitors were jumping in Mexico City '68. I've still no idea, without looking him up right now, what his own personal best was previously or what his best jump afterwards was, or indeed what his other jumps that day measured, to know just how freakish that single leap was. But yes – setting aside that it was done in the most favourable possible conditions, the fact remains that nobody else at those Olympics was able to get remotely near it even given those same advantages, nor were people knocking three-quarters of a second off the sprint world records or other comparable feats.