Triple Jump

How it works

Competitors sprint along a runway before taking off from a wooden board. The take-off foot absorbs the first landing, the hop. The next phase, the step, is finished on the opposite foot and then followed by a jump into a sandpit. The distance travelled, from the edge of the board to the closest indentation in the sand to it, is then measured.

A foul is committed – and the jump is not measured – if an athlete steps beyond the board.

Most championship competitions involve six jumps per competitor, although usually a number of them, those with the shorter marks, are often eliminated after three jumps.  If competitors are tied, the athlete with the next best distance is declared the winner.

History

At the inaugural modern Olympic Games in 1896, the event consisted of two hops and a jump but the format of a hop, a skip, a jump - hence its alternative name which was still in common usage until recently – was standardised in 1908.

Did you know

When Great Britain’s Jonathan Edwards set the current World record of 18.29m to win at the 1995 IAAF World Championships, he jumped a distance in excess of the width of a football penalty box.

Gold standard

Soviet jumper Viktor Saneyev, from Georgia, won three consecutive Olympic Games gold medals from 1968 to 1976. The only man to win more than once at the IAAF World Championships is Jonathan Edwards, who was victorious in 1995 and 2001.

The best ever women's competition came at the 2008 Olympic Games when Cameroon's Francoise Mbango defended her title from four years before with 15.39m, the second best distance ever, and six women went over 15 metres.