Payday wrote:
Why on earth did he give up the LJ? He actually may have a medal around his neck now besides the mixed relays.
As a former jumper myself (7.30m) who was also expected to win most sprinting events at any given track meet, I can sort of speak to this. You'll notice Grant Holloway stepped away from the long jump too despite being one of the best suited athletes for it in the world.
The long jump is extremely brutal on your joints over time, and the kind of sprinting you need to use to succeed in a pure 100m or 200m dash is extremely different from the kind of sprinting that gets you down a long jump runway. If you're someone who is asked to be competitive in both too often, you start to realize you need to choose between the two styles.
Basically, the drive phase you need to conjure out of blocks in reaction to a gun is so different from the patient, bouncy, consistent first steps you need to take in the long jump in order to hit the board over and over again. And every single jump is wrecking your legs in a way that running does not. So a combination of frustration with fouling, injuries, and the fact that training for the long jump makes it harder to excel in sprinting causes people to burn out and choose between the jumps and sprints.
There are some exceptions like Carl Lewis, Jessie Owens, Jarrion Lawson, at one point (although that positive test was a little fishy, sorry Jarrion), someone like Ngoni Makusha, etc. But for the most part you'll notice it is rare for someone to excel in the jumps and sprints at the same time.
Most sub-10 100m runners could jump 8 meters.