Do sprinters always have a good vertical or long jump?

I don't know, but Walter Dix 23'10" at age 14 is pretty F-amazin

standing long jump and verticle jump are good indicators of overall athleticism and starting power, but not directly indicative of top end speed or speed endurance.

that said, single impulse proficiency (power) is seen in most top sprinters, especially 60/100m specialists.

Average vertical for elite sprinters is a under 30 inches. So, while Usain Bolt may be able to dunk, Ato Boldon once posted on his website that nobody in HSI could dunk.

But standing long jump is a different matter. Most elite 100m guys can SLJ around 3 meters.

Coach D wrote:

Ato Boldon once posted on his website that nobody in HSI could dunk.

Oh. Interesting. I thought I saw a video of him doing a huge box jump. Maybe he could touch the rim? What is the difference with standing vertical?

dunking and actual standing verticle have little correlation.

however standing long jump and true two footed no run up verticle have almost 100% correlation.

now a box jump is different because of the eccentric and elastic strength demands of controlling the drop and converting it.

so Coach D, although correct in his words, is misunderstanding the question.

Dunking requires conversion of horizontal velocity to verticle and also requires some height to start with not to mention the ability to grip a ball with one hand. none of those qualities have any correlation to sprinting

Usually,yes. Lots of fast twitch muscle fibers. End of thread.

From coaching manuals, typical values and selection criteria for pure spriters (100/200) are:

standing jump reach: 26"

standing long jump 9 1/2'

In my post above I was talking about real athletes who can dunk from standing. The US has some elite high jumpers who can do this, despite being under 6' tall....but they're nowhere in sprinting. Elite sprinters are nowhere near NBA class in standing vertical. So not only does vertical jump NOT correlate with sprinting ability, it may even be a NEGATIVE indicator. Research has shown that countermovement jumps correlate well with improvement in the first 30 meters of a sprint--but what research has shown actually correlates is not the height reached, but the amount of force applied to the ground: These two things are not the same, and the actual impulse of high jumping is not specific to sprints.

There was a guy who posted on charliefrancis.com a couple of years ago. He was a weightlifter and could to something like 700 pound box squats and had about a 46" standing vertical...and he had the photos to prove it. He couldn't sprint worth shit, so he left in frustration.

The standing long jump is VERY specific to the power needed to reach and maintain maximum velocity. It is one of the best indicators of sprint ability and one of the best things to do to improve one's sprinting speed, for example 5 SLJs for distance with 30-60 second rest as part of a warmup.

What could other runners like milers do in the standing long jump. I've known some long distance guys who had surprisingly good hops. But they were also tall.

No

Milers, but not marathoners, need the ability to kick, and the speed needed implies a certain amount of power in standing long jumps, as well as squats. So, I would guess guys like Symmonds, Lagat, and of course Coe and Morceli could put up significant numbers in the jumps.This is from a presentation Terrance Mahon made at the 2006 Las Vegas Distance Summit:

Andrew Rock

2004 2005 2006

Standing Long Jump 10'1" 10'4" 10'5"

2 Hop Jump N/A 21'2" 21'6"

3 Hop Jump 31'2" 31'9" 32'4"

5 Hop Jump 51'10" 53'8" 54'8"

This stuff is pretty interesting.

Can someone describe exactly what the standing long jump means, in terms of sprinting? I think someone stated that it shows you can reach and maintain top speed well, but does that mean Wariner will have a better jump maybe, then say Asafa?

Also what is "elite" in terms of standing long jump? should it be assumed if you jump a certain length you will be decent at a certain running distance, or long jump, or anything like that?

I was a fair sprinter in my day. I think I could long jump about 10 feet. And I'm not talking standing long jump! I'm talking full run up into the pit. And forget about touching the rim. I could never touch the net.

"The standing long jump is VERY specific to the power needed to reach and maintain maximum velocity. It is one of the best indicators of sprint ability and one of the best things to do to improve one's sprinting speed".

No that is not true at all, the best test for sprinting without sprinting is a bounding test either alternating legs or on a single leg for 10 strides. Standing long jump only slightly more useful than vertical, both of which indicate explosiveness but close to NOTHING about top speed.

Dispel common myths wrote:

"The standing long jump is VERY specific to the power needed to reach and maintain maximum velocity. It is one of the best indicators of sprint ability and one of the best things to do to improve one's sprinting speed".

No that is not true at all, the best test for sprinting without sprinting is a bounding test either alternating legs or on a single leg for 10 strides. Standing long jump only slightly more useful than vertical, both of which indicate explosiveness but close to NOTHING about top speed.

An interesting discussion, but how about doing it the old fashioned way and timing a person's sprint? A coach with a good eye will be able to see if the candidate has potential to improve form/technique and can make the usual judgements about future growth, possible future strength gains, etc.?

I was a jumper before I ruined my knee in a motor cycle accident. My Brother was an Olympic finalist in the jumps. Ist non doper home. Got the certificate but not the medal.

He was standing jump guy of 13', LJ 27, TJ 56'10.

He could also run 10.3 for 100 m. And made the relay team.

I was a 16 year old 5'8" 133 lb and only ran 11.3, but LJ 23'11" and 49" TJ. I was able to go standing jump 10+

I'm now 6'3" and moved to sprints until my knees quit for good. I hopped a couple fo LJs in the 25' range. All speed. I ran 10.3 and 46 seconds.

When I was an LJer I found the hardest part of the jump was the transition off the board. You have to be strong enough to convert linear to vertical at about 27 degrees. In my case it was about physical maturity. I didn't have it. I HJed 6'5" as a 16 yr old, but could not handle the long run up. 4 - 5 steps is all, and it was the straddle. Those were old days.

So I was always pretty good off the ground, but not so good converting. But speed covers up a lot of weakness.

Carl lewis was better linear than he was converting. His speed was what carried him so far, but every now and then he got off the board well and he was untouchable.

As an aside, I have a TKR, my back is effed, but I can still touch the rim from a standing jump.

Everyone has an opportunity to improve speed, and technique. So no, not all sprinters can lift themselves off the ground. Otherwise Larry Myricks would be the legend that Carl L is.

Control for height and run a logistic regression. Vertical leaping ability (especially with a running start) will probably predict dunking ability on a 10 foot rim at a better than chance rate.

hs sprints wrote:

Can a person of average height be a good sprinter but not be able to jump and touch the rim of a basketball hoop?

I do not know the answer to your basketball rim question; a sub-10.5 100m sprinter will always have a verticle jumping ability/skill superior to a person who cannot sprint sub-12.5 100m.