[quote author="Nick Newman" date="1261123266"]Good point!
There is clearly a huge difference between the fastest elite and the slowest sub elites but…
On average from all numbers i’ve seen from the British and German Championships over the years (6m-1m speed)…
Sub elite = 7m – 7.75m (speed range = 9.6 – 10.2 m/s)
Elite = 8m + (speed range = 10.0 – 11 m/s) BUT only a few (under 10) elites are over 10.5 m/s on a regular basis.Averages i’d say are,
9.9 m/s for sub elites
10.3 m/s for eliteThe numbers clearly show something more important than speed…take off ability is number one in my book.
Right. Take-off ability… at a 10+m/s speed. The point is, statistically – the difference between 10.1 and 10.6 is less than a single standard deviation – across the spectrum of long jumpers. And anybody carrying 10.0+ is at the far right (<1%) of the bell curve of the overall competitive long jump population.
There will be nobody jumping 8.2 but running 9.0 m/s. And nobody running 11.0 but jumping 7.0.
I agree, it is about take-off in handling speed. But – I will be much more likely to get to 7.00m if I move my 6-1m speed from 8.2 to 9.0 – than I will in increasing my take-off ability by 20%. And a smaller relative improvement will yield a larger relative gain.
I guess the only other question is – would a long jumper make greater gains by A) purposefully slowing the run and enhancing on take-off mechanics – or B) accelerating the run and simply trying to maintain take-off mechanics.
I'm sure it is a combo of the two, but that B is better than A.[/quote]
Good points…
We aren't just talking take off machanics here however. More time to produce force is what most people need in order to get any height and jump far. What sets most elites apart in my opinion more so than speed is this ability. Take off touch downs at Worlds from example were incredible. Only 1 jumper i believe had a contact longer than 0.12.
As for your question. Depends how fast the guy is and what he is slowing down to. If he can run 11 m/s but can't take off, taking off at 10.5 m/s will make all the difference. We've seen this with Rutherford this year actually.