Selected kinematic characteristics of intercollegiate women triple jumpers

Eight women triple jump finalists at the 1986 Big Ten Track and Field Championships and 10 women triple jump finalists at the 1986 National Track and Field Competition were filmed during competition. Among selected kinematic characteristics, the following high correlations (r greater than 0.70) were found: the distance of the hop phase correlated highly with the total jump distance; the horizontal position of the center of gravity of the body in relation to the support foot at takeoff correlated highly with the distance of the hop and the jump phases; the horizontal velocity into the step phase correlated highly with the total distance of the jump; the vertical velocity into the hop and step phases correlated highly with the respective phase distance; and there was an inverse correlation between the maximum height of the center of gravity during the flight phase of the step and the total distance. A significant difference was found between men and women triple jumpers in relation to the contribution of the step phase to the total distance of the jump (men, means = 29.5, SD = 1.46; women, means = 26.7, SD = 2.94; P less than 0.05). All remaining relationships among the kinematic variables studied were found to be not significant at P less than 0.05 or were less than r = 0.70. The phase ratios of current women triple jumpers were similar to ratios that have been reported for the novice athlete.