My 30-year-old world record 'not a good sign for athletics'

BBC News

2 hours ago

"I don't think it's a good sign for athletics as a sport that you have a record that stands for 30 years."Jonathan Edwards' pride in his triple jump world record is tinged with surprise at the fact no-one has surpassed the 18.29m he set on 7 August 1995 at the World Championships in Gothenburg."When you think of all the developments in sports science, nutrition, training methods, all of those things, I don't think it necessarily speaks to a really healthy and thriving sport, if I'm honest," Edwards, who is Britain's only track and field world record holder in regularly contested events, told BBC Sport.Perhaps that plays down his own achievement. Only seven other men in history have surpassed the 18m mark.But, if you subscribe to the view that records are there to be broken, then why is this one still standing?
Edwards was 'remarkable'
When Edwards arrived at Gothenburg's Ullevi Stadium, no-one had ever jumped beyond 18 metres in 'legal' wind conditions.Within the first two rounds of the competition, he had managed it twice.He landed beyond the measuring board with his opening-round jump of 18.16m and then added another 13cm to the record around 20 minutes later in what is one of British athletics' greatest performances.He was the event's form athlete that year, arriving in Sweden as the world record holder after jumping 17.98 to beat American Willie Banks' previous mark by one centimetre and had also recorded the longest jump in history of a wind-assisted 18.43m.He has always described himself as a sprinter, rather than a jumper, likening his contact with the ground through the hop-step-jump phases to a pebble skimming the water and at 71kg was also lighter than many other athletes.He had changed his technique that season, adopting a double arm action - rather than an alternate arm movement - that he said made him "so well balanced" through all of his phases.But nevertheless he was far from confident, admitting that he bought sunglasses at Gothenburg airport to hide his eyes when he was warming up so his competitors "wouldn't see the fear" he had.What his rivals saw was very different."In our training sessions, we studied Edwards videos day in, day out," Jerome Romain, who took the bronze medal in Gothenburg, said. "It was just remarkable the things that he did."Silver medallist Brian Wellman believes Edward set the record because "he was the most efficient triple jumper out there".
Athletics 'hasn't kept pace' with other sports
Edwards believes part of the reason he still holds the triple jump world record is because athletics has not "kept pace with the professionalisation of sport", which means talented young athletes are choosing other sports instead because they can earn more money."It doesn't offer the same rewards as other sports," he said."If you're a talented young kid, you wouldn't necessarily pick track and field. You wouldn't certainly pick a field event where the rewards are less than on the track."When four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson launched Grand Slam Track this season, where athletes compete for a top prize of $100,000 (£75,125) at each meet, the disciplines were limited to track races.Investment in the sport has also been falling, with UK Sport cutting funding for athletics for the second successive Olympic cycle, announcing last year that UK Athletics would get 8% less for the 2028 Los Angeles Games than it had for Paris 2024.Participation in track and field has also been falling, according to England Athletics, and youngsters are increasingly dropping out.
Technology may not be helping
Three of the five longest held men's world records in the most commonly contested events are jumps: the high jump, long jump and triple jump records were all set between 1991 and 1995.And yet, technology has advanced since then, including in footwear.But Edwards thinks the carbon fibre plates in today's running shoes may not actually be helping jumpers in contrast to the running events where records have continued to be broken."I wonder whether or not a carbon fibre plate is able to cope with the intensity of that impact and then offer anything on the rebound, because that's what I think we're seeing on the track."You're seeing athletes who are actually getting a spring effect, and that's why you're seeing some of the times that you're getting. But the forces are so extreme in triple jump, indeed long jump, even high jump when people take off and I'm not sure that that sort of trampoline effect is able to have the same impact."Dr Tom Allen, sports engineering expert at Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Canterbury Visiting Erskine Fellow, agrees that while the shoes offer gains in running economy, the impact of the shoes on jumping events is "likely to be small or negligible".
Will the record ever be broken?
The closest anyone has come to Edwards' record was 10 years ago when American Christian Taylor jumped 18.21m.The world leading distance this year is 17.80m, while last year's Olympic gold was won with 17.86m."He [Edwards] can rest easy for a while," Romain said. "This is not an easy feat, I'm telling you."Edwards says he does not know how he will feel if his record goes."It's been a part of me for so long now," he said. "Actually it would be nice if it carried on."It would be quite a good funeral [if there was] something down the aisle - 18.29m."