World Athletics has scrapped plans to introduce a takeoff zone for the long jump rather than the traditional board because of widespread hostility from athletes.
Jon Ridgeon, the governing body’s chief executive, said that while the proposals had gone well in trials, “you ultimately do not want to go to war with your most important group of people”.
The idea of introducing a wide takeoff zone was to reduce the number of foul jumps with athletes no longer required to try to hit a narrow board before jumping into the sand pit. However the Olympic long‑jump champion, Miltiadis Tentoglou, described the proposal as “dog shit” because it took much of the skill out of the event, while the former track and field athlete Carl Lewis, who won four Olympic long‑jump medals, called it an “April fool’s joke”.
“The athletes do not want to embrace it,” Ridgeon said. “So we’re not going to do it. Even though I would argue we identified a problem, and found a viable solution, if the athletes don’t want it, fine, we drop it. But I don’t regret looking at that. It’s our job as the governing body.”
World Athletics trialled the idea this year after research found that around a third of long jumps at championships were no-jumps and that reduced the interest of fans. “From the emotional reaction of the crowd, they lose energy with no‑jumps,” Ridgeon said.
“We said: ‘Can we solve that exam question?’ And we created the concept of a wider takeoff zone. We trialled that solution and it trialled well.”
When it was tested at two events, World Athletics found the number of no‑jumps dropped to 13% and spectators enjoyed the new format. Most of the athletes, however, remained implacably opposed – but Ridgeon said World Athletics did not lament attempting to improve the event. “We would be accused of being asleep at the wheel if we didn’t look for weaknesses,” he said.
“The long jump’s a really exciting and vibrant part of our sport. But it’s our job to push the boundaries and say: ‘Can we make something that’s good even better?’
“That’s what we try to do. Where I was slightly frustrated is that everyone just jumped on that one thing when we were looking at four or five things to improve and speed up the long jump.
“They include simple things like getting the officials to rake the pit quicker. We’re also working with [the watch manufacturer] Seiko to create a concept called instant results. When you land in a sandpit at the moment it might take up to 20 seconds to get the result. We’re working on less than five seconds.”
