Why has the world record in the high jump lasted since 1993?

Doubtful Pre Doubtful wrote:

Sotomayor went 8 feet.

Neither he nor anyone else who has gone over 2.40 has ever jumped in imperial measurements or cared about "8 feet."

Barshim had the height the day he hit 2.43, but an early miss cost him an extra jump, as did stiff competition. When the bar was at 2.37 he had the height for 2.46m.

hurdlesjack wrote:

Barshim got very close. Bondarenko did as well.

There has been a talented crop of jumpers the past few years.

What has caused a decline in all of the jumps since the 80s is indeed the lack of drugs. Plyometrics, which develop the kind of explosive power necessary for big jumps, are incredibly hard on the body. The plyo routines developed by the Eastern Bloc and later disseminated across the world, while ingenious, are so high in volume that they will destroy a clean athlete.

WADA caught everyone off guard. Its taken athletes/coaches/biochemists a while to figure out ways around the tests, but I think that steadily improving marks across most jumps indicate that theyre finding success in doing this.

Yup exactly. Nandrolone was the miracle drug for jumping events (INCREDIBLE for the joints) but today's testing is too good noone can get away using even moderate amounts of it.

So far there hasn't been an effective replacement PED that can replicate the results

We are at absolute human limits ...there is little to zero amount of time improvement left.

Doubtful Pre Doubtful wrote:

Sotomayor went 8 feet. That's a great jump but no one has come close since.

I did read that he was on drugs late in his career.

Cocaine's a helluva drug.

Doubtful Pre Doubtful wrote:

Sotomayor went 8 feet. That's a great jump but no one has come close since.

I did read that he was on drugs late in his career.

Late in his career? He was doped to the gills his entire career. Cubans are generally given a pass just like E. Africans. Certain third world countries / athletes are let get away with murder because certain people at the top feel it's good for the sport, although the real politics behind this has many layers, with part of it designed to "condition" people to believe certain things. So many folks want to give the "poor" folks a break it's hilarious. The average person has no idea how easy is it is to obtain most PEDs in these "poor" countries or how cheap most drugs actually are outside the US and Europe, whose populations are hammered price wise in order to subsidize distribution and sales of pharmaceuticals across the rest of this ridiculous planet. Hell, go bodybuilding discussion boards and you'll see how easy it is to find people selling 'roids, EPO, HGH, and more.

Sotomayor was let get away with 'roid use for a long time. Anyone who knew about steroids knew he was a heavy juicer, in person he had the infamous "wax fruit" look to his skin and musculature. He became so arrogant he thought officials would let him cruise when it came to his love of coke and weed, and this finally tripped him up when he landed in a situation that officials couldn't cover up for him.

The earth's gravitational pull has slowly increased over time. That's the real reason. I used to easily be able to grab a basketball rim. Yet here we are l20 years later and I can hardly reach the net

The same reason why men discus throw world record has stood since 6/6/1986. We are near our human limits. Circa 1885 to circa 1985 world records fell due to broader participation and greater consistent training methods for all athletes.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Doubtful Pre Doubtful wrote:

Sotomayor went 8 feet.

Neither he nor anyone else who has gone over 2.40 has ever jumped in imperial measurements or cared about "8 feet."

And that sub-4 minute mile is still a joke across the planet.

When in Rome, do as the Romans but when in the US, do as the Romans would. Have I got it?

No one cares about the high jump, bro. Take it to letsjump.com.

Lavar Ball routinely jumped over 8 feet in practice but gave up track before the season to snatch dudes souls on the basketball court. Lonzo could break the 9' barrier if not for being the best basketball player on Earth.

BallerBrand wrote:

Lavar Ball routinely jumped over 8 feet in practice .

horizontally, yes. Many middle school girls can do that. In the high jump though, I doubt many NBAers can jump over 6.5 feet, and maybe 2-3 over 7.

Their jumping ability is quite overrated.

Didn't Iguodala clear 6'10" in HS?

Roger Roger wrote:

Bring Back the 880 wrote:

Um, a couple of guys have been close as recently as a couple of years ago.

You don't think Barshim still has a shot at this?

Barshim?? Drouin is much more consistent.

Consistently meh.

Who's going to break 3:26, the guy who had run 3:27 once or the guy who ran 3:29 five times?

Don't get me wrong, I'll bet on Drouin over Barshim in any meet. But Barshim is by far the better chance of the WR.

Think a bit.

Since you're acting like an authority, tell me how an East African runner goes about getting EPO.

Put up or shut up.

Guys, this is pretty obvious. The talent pool is simply terrible. Three words: sedentary little runts.

In Sotomayor's time, kids were much better conditioned. In the US or Latin America alike. They ran. They climbed. Hell, they even stood. They jumped. And that was all outside of gym class.

You point the little lumps that are today's average 8-10 year old toward a hurdle or a high jump, and they'll piss themself. We just don't have the base of the pyramid to expect talent to emerge like it used to.

hate to break it to you wrote:

Guys, this is pretty obvious. The talent pool is simply terrible. Three words: sedentary little runts.

In Sotomayor's time, kids were much better conditioned. In the US or Latin America alike. They ran. They climbed. Hell, they even stood. They jumped. And that was all outside of gym class.

You point the little lumps that are today's average 8-10 year old toward a hurdle or a high jump, and they'll piss themself. We just don't have the base of the pyramid to expect talent to emerge like it used to.

I agree with much of the above post. In my neighborhood, in the late 60's and early seventies, we(boys and girls) would find mattresses and high jump or pole vault with bamboo poles. I commented to my wife this week while watching kid after kid have no idea how to pole vault at a middle school meet that I knew elementary school girls in my neighborhood who were much better using a bamboo pole, with a home-made wooden box and no padding, with no coaching after only watching the Olympics on TV.

On the other hand, my cousin fell awkwardly minus the padding on the pole vault and dislocated an elbow with a broken forearm.

+1

Cubans were really, really dirty. I wouldn't be surprised if Juantorena was roided up. I thought that they should scrap all the records not set under the ABP, get rid of all the women's sprint records, Chinese, Paula, jumps, mens & women's throws. The problem is the mens 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, Dibaba, Ayana, w100mh, mens marathon would all be the same and the men's 1500m WR would still be 3:26. All of which is thoroughly unsatisfactory.

Derek Drouin is 6' 4". That probably puts his center of gravity somewhere around 3'2" to 3'6". With perfect Fosbury flop technique someone can clear 4-6 inches above their COG. That would still require a running vertical of 4 feet AND perfect technique.

That athlete doesn't exist. If a 6'-8" guy gets his head to the rim in the NBA he has a running vertical of 3' 4" and that is off a hardwood floor that has a lot better rebound than a Mondo track surface.

There are probably a few guys in the NBA who could be world class high, long, or triple jumpers but they wood be unlikely to make a dent in the record books.