World Athletics drop long jump ‘take-off zone’ idea

Global governing body says he does not want to go to war with athletes.

World Athletics has killed off plans to introduce a take-off zone for the long jump – and potentially triple jump – following widespread opposition from athletes and coaches.

The Guardian newspaper reports that Jon Ridgeon, World Athletics’ chief executive, says while the proposals had gone well in trials, “you do not want to go to war with your most important group of people”.

Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou and four-time Olympic long jump gold medallist Carl Lewis were particularly critical of the plans, which aimed to remove the traditional board.

“The reality is the athletes do not want to embrace it,” Ridgeon told the Guardian. “So we’re not going to do it. You ultimately don’t go to war with your most important group of people.

READ MORE: Prepare for take-off controversy

“Even though I would argue we identified a problem, and found a viable solution, if the athletes don’t want it, fine, we drop it. But I don’t regret looking at that. I think that’s our job as the governing body.

“From the emotional reaction of the crowd, they lose energy with no jumps,” Ridgeon added. “So we said, ‘Can we solve that exam question?’ And we created the concept of a wider take-off zone’. We trialled that solution and it actually trialled well.”

The criticism initially exploded when Ridgeon mentioned the idea during an interview. It was then discussed at a presentation at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, with several coaches voicing their concerns.

Ridgeon continued: “We would be accused of being asleep at the wheel if we didn’t look for weaknesses.

“The long jump’s a really exciting and vibrant part of our sport. But it’s our job to push the boundaries and say, ‘can we make something that’s already good even better?’ That’s what we try to do. Where I was slightly frustrated is that everyone just jumped on that one thing when we were looking at four or five things to improve and speed up the long jump.

“They include simple things like getting the officials to rake the pit quicker. We’re also working with Seiko to create a concept called instant results. When you land in a sandpit at the moment it might take up to 20 seconds to get the result. We’re working on less than five seconds.”