Athletics World Championships 19.8.–27.8. Ylen channels. See the schedule and broadcast information of the games at this link.
Wild situations have been seen in the jumping disciplines of the World Athletics Championships. The most memorable was the Bahamian in the men’s long qualifying by LaQuan Nairn performance.
Nairn’s ankle twisted painfully in the effort and the man sank to the sand on his stomach. Nairn lay still for a long time with his eyes closed, which scared Ylenki’s newsroom.
Read more: This situation at the World Athletics Championships shocked and angered ‘s commentary – the Swedish competitor did not dare to watch
Jamaican in the long final on Thursday Carey McLeod twisted his leg oddly. After his slip, McLeod was no longer able to perform proper jumps and finished fourth in the final, where the World Championship gold was celebrated by Greece Miltiadis Tentoglou.
Swedish Thobias Montler, who was sixth in the final, harshly criticized the conditions of the jumping events. According to the Swede, there were also many injuries in the women’s qualifying and final.
– We all have the same risk every time we go to jump, and the more jumpers slip, the more often you think “damn, it’s my turn soon”, Montler leaked to Aftonbladet.
Montler demanded measures, because according to him, the effort planks in the jumping events are too slippery. Nowadays, there is no longer a small podium with wax edges after the overstepping line, but oversteppings are watched in big competitions with the help of technology.
That’s why it can happen that the shoe slides along the board for a long distance and then hits the surface of the track violently after the board. The rule change came into effect in 2022, and since then similar slips and injuries have been seen a lot.
Tommi Evilä opens up about what it’s all about
SUL’s coaching manager Tommi Evilä know exactly what it’s all about. He has paid attention to slips in the World Championships.
In her own career, in 2002, Evilä suffered a herniated disc after slipping in a raincoat race in Tallinn.
– Then I had a counter-effort. The long jump does not include a counter effort. The foot must come directly under the center of gravity, Evilä begins.
– If the effort is even a little lacking, i.e. the foot is ahead of the center of gravity, then the contact usually comes a little through the heel.
In the World Cup final, the best male athletes jumped eight and a half meters. In the long jump, the best speed on the plank has been 10.7 meters per second. Jumpers can weigh closer to 80 kilograms. We are talking about enormous kinetic energies.
The spikes are at the tip of the shoe. When the contact comes through the heel, it may be that only a few spikes hit the ground. This is the root cause of slips.
– If you look at Tentoglou, who currently jumps technically the best of all, he didn’t have such problems.
– Now we are talking about top athletes. Basically, whenever an effort is missed, it’s a technique error. And then with these energies with which they come to the plank, the spikes definitely do not have time or are able to stick.
This brings us to Montler’s criticism. In the past, the wax plank that was at the effort site to detect overstepping was slightly higher than the other planks.
– Then the other prongs of the spike have time to catch it. Now that it’s missing, and the plank is completely flat, there won’t be a higher surface area for the butt. Then the pilot’s way goes through the air, Evilä quivers.
Nowadays, when the foot is able to slide a longer distance due to a failed effort, the knees, ankles and back are in danger. Montler brought up by Fredrik Samuelssonwho had broken his leg in the long jump of the decathlon at the Swedish championships and had to undergo surgery.
Evilä also understands Montler’s position to the extent that similar situations can cause jump scares.
In any case, it is a valid debate whether the boards of jumping events should be modified again. Evilä sees no obstacle in this, especially when overstepping in top-level competitions is watched with camera technology.
– Should there be a small, slightly higher surface, where, for example, there would be a mondo coating on top. That there would be something tough that the thorn could stick to.
In summary, Evilä suggests that after the crossing line there would be a slightly higher surface, which would be paved in such a way that the spikes would stick. At the same time, the risk of jump scares and potential, serious injuries would be reduced.
– They are pointless and preventable. It starts through technology, but it cannot always be done with textbook technology, in which case the athlete should be protected with such solutions.
Evilä doesn’t like the rule change
Evilä brings up one more thing that she doesn’t like about the long jump and triple jump these days.
– It’s incredible that when there is a toe roll, i.e. rolling over the toes, there are oversteps.
With the rule change, the wax surface was removed from the planks. Before, the jump was overstepped if there was a mark on the wax. The front edge of the wax surface was not vertical, but 45 degrees. Jumping shoes are also curved at the toe. Then there could be situations where in TV slow motion the jump looks clearly overstepped, but it isn’t.
Nowadays, an athlete’s performance is disqualified if his shoe or any part of his foot breaks the vertical plane with respect to the line of effort, when the pushing foot leaves the ground.
Therefore, it can happen that when the jumper’s entire foot is on the ground, it is not about overstepping. But when the athlete’s effort movement continues rolling over the toes, the jump has been overstepped.
– The camera should check that when the entire sole of the foot is on the ground, if the foot does not cross the line, it has not been stepped on. It’s absolutely absurd when a new rule causes a centimeter less plank to be used, Evilä criticizes.