Matthew Boling jumps world leading 27 feet (8.25m!) in the long jump

Just don't see him being all that in the long jump, do see him having more success as a 200/400 man. Obviously while at Georgia he has to do it all.

20.49 to start season. Could drop a tenth off his personal best by championships. 20.09 would put him #3 all time college list.

Of course he'll improve next couple years in LJ- 8.50 is in the cards.

Just don't see him staying in the long jump beyond Georgia could be wrong. I definately don't see him a sub 9.90 100m man. His first real success was in the 200m, and he has talked about that being his favorite and best event, there is where I think will see him on the world stage.

Will back off my 400m bit, probably not into the pain like most of us.

OozmaKappa wrote:

Theres people years younger than him running damn near half a second faster in the 200m.

Incorrect. There’re a couple guys younger than him running around two-tenths faster if that. 200m will be tough to break through in with the US completely loaded but he’d make any other national team right now. Just because Knighton is ridiculous and Fahnbulleh is a beast does not make Boling worse.

And they said white men can't jump. More liberal propaganda being proven false.

Cheny wrote:

And they said white men can't jump. More liberal propaganda being proven false.

It should be a rather small % of white men can jump

carmine9 wrote:

Cheny wrote:

And they said white men can't jump. More liberal propaganda being proven false.

It should be a rather small % of white men can jump

White men typically win the high jump at the Olympics and the current long jump Olympic champion is a white greek

Kids a freak...

How is Bill Russell a case in point as a great athlete who couldn't coach? He won at least one title as a player-coach. Maybe you're thinking of Magic Johnson. And how is this result indicative of Bolling lacking the promise to do much at anything but 200-400? This would have been 7th U.S. outdoor last year and top 20 in the world, but 3rd or 4th in the U.S. indoors. The top U.S. mark last year outdoors was JuVaughn Harrison's 27'9.x" and one guy in the world jumped over 28'. Bolling here improved by 7 inches on his pr. So, it's a strong performance and I see no reason to think that he can't jump 28' at some point outdoors. He has improved more slowly in the sprints but this is a sign that he's going to have a breakthrough. 20.06 for 200m will go this year. I predict sub 10 legal and 19.80. A better sprint school like LSU or Houston might be better for him still, but we shall see.

OozmaKappa wrote:

The Indianapolis wrote:

Do we have enough data points to preclude him from being a great decathalete some day?

He cant vault or throw the javelin, and hes kind of old to learn. Being less than mediocre at these skills would hurt him more than his sprinting and jumping would help him. He could be an alright decathlete, idk how good, but theres serious obstacles to him ever becoming a great one. That's the point, remember? Otherwise what would be the point of bcoming a decathlete if hes less successful than he is now and its in an event thats less lucrative? To become a better decathelete than he is a sprinter, thats tough. Probably not worth it to make the switch.

Hence, my comment. Hes good at a lot of things, but hes yet to become great at anything.

How do we know he can't learn to vault or throw javelin at a world medalist level in the decathalon? Is it too late to learn? Don't most decathaletes come from sprinting and jumping backgrounds as opposed to vaulting and throwing? Meaning, don't most if them take up those disciplines in college?

The Indianapolis wrote:

He cant vault or throw the javelin, and hes kind of old to learn. Being less than mediocre at these skills would hurt him more than his sprinting and jumping would help him. He could be an alright decathlete, idk how good, but theres serious obstacles to him ever becoming a great one. That's the point, remember? Otherwise what would be the point of bcoming a decathlete if hes less successful than he is now and its in an event thats less lucrative? To become a better decathelete than he is a sprinter, thats tough. Probably not worth it to make the switch.

Hence, my comment. Hes good at a lot of things, but hes yet to become great at anything.

How do we know he can't learn to vault or throw javelin at a world medalist level in the decathalon? Is it too late to learn? Don't most decathaletes come from sprinting and jumping backgrounds as opposed to vaulting and throwing? Meaning, don't most if them take up those disciplines in college?[/quote]

A- I totally disagree that he is not good at any event. He is the defending NCAA indoor 200m champion. #5 all time (NCAA). That’s good.

B- I also disagree that he can become a good decathlete. He is too old to pick that up. He would be at the right school however. I’m sure that he could be ok, but… Let’s compare Boling to Warner.

100m: Boling 10.11, Warner 10.12

400m: Boling 45.51, Warner 46.54 (not sure if he ran a fresh one in the past 5 years)

LJ: Boling 8m25, Warner 8m28

110H: Warner 13.27

HJ: Warner 2m09…

Yes, he is as good as Warner in 100m and LJ and a little better than Warner at 400m. But there is no room for error here. Warner can run 13.27 at 110H. 0% chance that Boling would ever run that. Then it gets worse in the PV, Javelin, DT…

runnerboy70 wrote:

Kids a freak...

I wouldn't go that far.

Jackie Robinson was a freak, NCAA long jump champ, stud footballer and baseballer and basketballer.

Bo Jackson a freak, Alabama State Decathlon Champ, NFL, MLB.

Tommie Smith went to SJS on a basketball ride, he was world ranked in all three sprints and a 35-10 long jumper....doubt he trained at all.

Milt Campbell a freak, number one in the world 110's, Olympic Decathlon gold, NFLer...got a look. Martial arts.

Ah...25-10, sheesh!

To clarify, I don't think Boling will or should become a decathlete but the claims that he is too old has me wondering, when do world class decathaletes typically take up the event seriously? I alway assumed, for some, it was once the writing was on the wall that they weren't going to be world class in sprint events.

Sorry if it's a stupid question. I'll admit I know little about decathalon history or training

There have been a lot of long jumper/sprinters, nothing new. Decathlon talk...????

Id guess MB could pole vault 15 feet and throw the javelin 200 feet within a few months of practice, maybe less. Give him a couple of years? Probably much better marks.

However, he should stick with sprints and LJ.

No need to fix what isnt broken . Jeremy Wariner and the 800, for example.

Great performance. I enjoy watching Boling race and jump. Incredibly talented athlete.

Yes he is and he is just a college soph, do expect some ...wow...but not sure where, ha!!!!

DinoZ wrote:

Don't see that at all, do doubt he can pole vault or throw anything. Don't see a hurdler here.

disagree. he's got to train for it, but easily see a potential hurdler in matt.