World Athletics will scrap plans to trial a takeoff zone in the long jump after widespread pushback from athletes who frowned on the proposed experiment.
A study conducted by World Athletics revealed that nearly a third of jumps were fouls and affected fan engagement. But on Thursday, the governing body reversed its ideal to implement a zone where the foot takes off to where it lands in the pit.
The move to abandon the takeoff zone idea as confirmed by the governing body’s chief executive Jon Ridgeon in an report by The Guardian on Wednesday.
“The athletes do not want to embrace it,” Ridgeon said in the report. “So we’re not going to do it. 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. It’s our job as the governing body.”
At two indoor meets this year, the takeoff zone experiment showed 13 percent drop in fouls. Still, athletes were opposed to the planned changes, which were originally announced in February 2024.
Meanwhile when news of the proposed changes emerged, some of the sport’s notable names quickly weighed in and were less than receptive.
In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), long jump legend Carl Lewis panned the idea.
“I guess It supports what I’ve been saying, that the long jump is the most difficult event in track and field,” Lewis said in his post. “That would just eliminate the the most difficult skill from the event. Just make the basket larger for free throws because so many people miss them. What do you think?”
And despite the data that suggests the expanded takeoff zone would come with performance improvements, Ridgeon conceded that changing course in the event is necessary.
“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 good even better?’
