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BiomechanicalAnalysisoftheHighJump

JuhaIsolehto,MikkoVirmavirta,HeikkiKyrlinenandPaavoV.Komi
NeuromuscularResearchCenter
DepartmentofBiologyofPhysicalActivity
UniversityofJyvskyl
Jyvskyl,FINLAND
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INTRODUCTION
RichardDickFosburywonthehighjumpeventatthe1968MexicoCityOlympic
GamesusingarevolutionarynewtechniquenamedtheFosburyflop.Twomajor
characteristicsofthattechniquearecurvedapproachrunandbacklayoutposition.In
thepresentdayhighjumping,theFosburyflopisthesoletechniqueusedbyallworld
classhighjumpersthroughouttheworld.
Thehighjumpcanbedividedintothreeparts:runup;takeoffandflight(orbar
clearance).Therunupphaseconsistsofastraightrunup,perpendiculartotheplane
ofthestands,followedbyacurvedsectionduringthelastfourtosixstepsbeforethe
takeoff.Duringthisphase,therunupspeedofthejumperbuildsuptobetween7
and8m/s.Thepurposeoftherunupistobringtheathleteintoanoptimumposition
fortakeoff,movingatavelocityconsistentwiththeathletesstrengthandskill(Hay
1993).
Thetakeoffphaseisdefinedasaperiodoftimebetweentheinstantwhenthetake
offfootfirsttouchesthegroundandtheinstantwhenitloosescontactwiththe
ground.Thepeakheightofthecentreofmass(COM)duringtheflightoverthebaris
dependentontheheightandtheverticalvelocityoftheCOMatthetoeoffinstant.
ThisinturnisgovernedbythejumpersVvattheinstantofthetouchdownandthe
verticalimpulsetransmittedviatakeofffoottojumpersbodyduringthetakeoff
phase.TheheightofthejumpersCOMatinstantoftoeoffdependsonhisphysique
andhisbodypositionatthatinstant.(Hay1973).
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Dapenaet.al.(1990)hasfoundapositiverelationship(r=0.79)betweenthe
horizontalvelocityattheendoftherunupandtheverticalvelocityoftheCOM
duringtheendofthetakeoffphase.
DapenaandChung(1988)presentedthatfastapproachruncanhelptoexertalarger
verticalforcetotheground.Itisinterestingtonotethatthefastestrunupsever
recordedandpublishedintheinternationalmeetingswereintheWorld
Championships1997,whenthelatestbiomechanicalanalysisatthemajor
championshipshasbeendone(BrggemannandArampatsis1997).
ThepresentstudyfollowstheseriesofstudiescollectedfromtheWorld
Championships1991and1997.Thepurposeofthepresentstudywastodetermine
howthemaximumheightoftheCOMduringtheflightphaseisdependentonthe

kinematicvariablesofthetakeoffandupdatetheknowledgeabouthowthe
developmentandperformanceoftheFosburyfloptechniqueareprogressing
nowadays.
METHODS
Subjects
Thirteenmalehighjumpers(height1920.05m,weight76.318.13kg)were
filmedduringtheircompetitiveperformancesinthemenshighjumpfinalduringthe
2005IAAFWorldChampionships.Thebestvalidjumpsfromeachofthefinalists
wereselectedforthefurtheranalysis.Theirmeanofficialrecordduringthefinalwas
2.270.04m.ThephysicalcharacteristicsofthejumpersarepresentedinTable1.
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Datacollection
TwoPanasonic(NVGS400)DVcameraswerefixedbeyondtheperimeterofthe
track.Thedistancetothemidpointofthebarwas45metersandtheanglebetween
theopticalaxesofthesecameraswas90degrees(Figure1.).Therecordingsofthe
jumpswerecarriedoutat50fieldspersecondwithashutterspeedof1/2000s.Third
camera(JVCGRDVL9800)wasoperatingatthespeedof200fieldspersecond
withtheshutterspeedof1/250sanditwaspositionedperpendiculartothebar
(distancefrombarwas40m).Camerasweresynchronizedusingtheaudio
synchronizationmethod(Barrosetal.2006),whichrecordsthesynchronization
signalthatwasinsertedontotheaudiotrackthroughthecamcordersmicrophone
jack.
Imagespacewascalibratedbyusingmultiphase(5locations)calibrationprocedure
withthestandardcalibrationframe.PeakMotussoftwareusesavariationofthe
procedurepublishedin"AMultiphaseCalibrationProcedurefortheDirectLinear
Transformation",byJohnChallis(1995).ThisprocedurewasadaptedbyPeterVint
ofResearchIntegrationsInc.
Datareduction
ThedigitalvideosignalwascapturedtotheMotus(PeakPerformanceinc.)motion
analysissystem.15bodylandmarks(wrist,elbow,shoulder,hip,knee,ankle,tipof
thetoeonbothsidesofthebodyandthehead)weredigitizedmanuallyforthetwo
laststridesoftheapproachandtheflightoverthebar.The3Dmodelofthejumpers
bodyconsistedof12segments.Segmentparametersusedfordeterminationofthe
bodyCOMweretakenfromthedataofdeLeva,1996(adjustedfromZatsiorsky
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Seluyanovssegmentinertiaparameters1990).Thekinematicdatawassmoothedby
usingaButterworthfourthorderzerolagfilterandacutofffrequencyof14Hz
basedonresidualanalysisandqualitativeevaluationofthedata.Interpolatingquintic
splineswerefittedtothedigitizedcoordinatedatatoallowtheestimationofdata
valuesat0.005sintervals(200Hz).
Coordinatesystem
Twodifferentorthogonalcoordinatesystemswereusedinthepresentstudy;XYZ

andABZ(Figure2.).AfterthetransformationtheXYZcoordinatesystemwas
relatedtothelocationofthestands.Originwasthelowestpointofthestandnearby
thetakeoffplace.TheXandYaxeswereinthehorizontalplane,Ybeingparallelto
thebarandXperpendiculartoit.TheZaxiswastheverticalone.TheABZco
ordinatesystemwasrelatedtothehorizontaldirectionofthecentreofmassduring
takeoffphase.TheAandBaxeswereinthehorizontalplane,Abeingparalleltothe
finalpathandBperpendiculartoit.TheZaxiswasvertical.
Intheanalysispartialheights(H1,H2andH3)ofCOMduringthetakeoffphase
refertotheheightofthejumpersCOMattouchdown(TD),toeoff(TO)andpeak
height,respectively.
RESULTS
Partialheights
ThemeanvaluesofthepartialheightsduringtheTDandTOphasesofthetakeoff
were0.930.05mand1.370.05m,respectively.TheheightoftheCOMatthe
highestpointoftheflightwas2.320.04mbeing5.10.33cmhigherthanthe
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officialbarheight.Thesepartialheightvaluesareoftenpresentedasapercentage
valuescomparedtotheathletesstandingheight.Table2.summarizestheresultsof
commonlyusedpartialheightsinthehighjump.
PathofCOMpriortoandduringthetakeoffandflight
ThecurvesoftheeightbestjumperspathsofCOMduringthelasttwostridesand
thebarclearancearepresentedinfigure.2.whichalsoshowsthedifferentphases
separately.Theverticaldisplacementoftheaccelerationpathduringthetakeoff
phasewas0.450.05m.ThedirectionoftheCOMmotionduringthetakeoffphase
isfirstdownwards,butafter221msitchangesupwards.
Themeantakeoffanglewas45.13.5.TheanglebetweenthepathoftheCOM
duringthetakeoffphase(directionvector,seefig.2)andbarlineinhorizontalplane
was31.70.2.Thehighestpointoftheflightwas6.340.03cmbehindthebar
lineandthebarclearanceplacewaslocated1.780.08mfromthestand.The
verticaldisplacementoftheCOMduringflightwas0.940.07m.
Horizontalandverticalvelocitycomponents
Figure3.showsthetypicalcurvesofthevelocitycomponentsofalleightbest
jumpersduringthelasttwostrides,takeoffandflightphase.AttheTDinstantofthe
takeoffthemeanhorizontalandverticalvelocityvalueswere7.780.34m/sand
0.330.15m/s,respectively.Attheendofthetakeoffphase(TO)horizontal
velocitywasdecreasedtothe4.310.49m/sandverticalvelocitywasincreasedup
to4.300.16m/s.Table3.summarizesthevaluesofthevelocitycomponentsduring
thecriticalphasesofthehighjumpperformance.
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Strideparameters
Themeancontacttimeswere14716msand17520msduringthe2
nd

lastandthe
takeoffcontact.Theflighttimebetweenthelastcontactswere5814ms.Last
strideanglewas28.54.3andthelengthofthelaststridewas2.090.13m.The
meanperpendiculardistanceofthetakeoffcontactfromthecloseststandofthebar
was1.020.3mand8.60.4cmtotheYdirection(seeFig.2.).Figure2.showsan
overheadviewofthefootprintsandtheCOMpathduringthelasttwocontactsofthe
runupandintheairbornephase.Theexactlocationsduringthedifferentphasesfor
eachjumperarealsopresented.Table4.summarizesthestrideparameters.
DuringtheTDinstantofthetakeoffthemeankneeanglewas16814,andit
decreased(10015ms)tothe1438.2.Attheendofthetakeoffphasetheknee
anglewas1743.4.Table5.summarizeshowthekneeanglesarechangingduring
thetakeoffphase.
Thejumpersinwardandbackwardinclinationvalueswerecalculatedonthe
horizontalplaneduringthetakeoffcontact.ThismethodshowsthatduringtheTD
phaseofthetakeoffthebodyhasabackwardleanof36.82.1butnoinwardlean
atall.BothvaluesarealmostzeroattheTOinstant.
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DISCUSSIONANDSUMMARY
Themeanofficialresults(2.270.04m)inthiscompetitionwereoneofthepoorest
duringthehistoryofthetrackandfieldWorldChampionshipssince1983.Onthe
otherhandthemeanheightoftheCOMduringthehighestpointoftheflightwas
2.320.04mandthatcorrespondswelltotheearlierstudieswhenonlysixtoeight
bestjumperswereanalyzed.Fromthetechnicalpointofviewthecompetitionwas
interesting,becausealldifferentkindsofvariationsoftheFosburyfloptechniques
usedinthisfinal.Thesevariationsarepowerversusspeedflopanddifferentkinds
ofhandtechniqueswhichare;originalrunningarmaction(Topic),leadingrunning
armaction(Holm),fastdoublearmaction(Krymarenko)andwidedoublearmaction
(Baba).
Theresultsoftheapproachrundemonstratethefastestrunupseverrecorded.When
comparingthesevaluestotheearlierstudies(Iiboshietal.1991;Brggemannand
Arampatzis1997;Dapena2000),itseemsclearthatnowadayshorizontalapproach
velocityisincreasing.
ThepresentresultsshowclearlythattheverticalvelocityandtheheightofCOMat
theendoftakeoffphasetogetherdeterminetheheightoftheflight(r=0.75,p<0.01;
r=0.1.,n.s,respectively).Thus,theverticalvelocityoftheathleteattheendofthe
takeoffphasedetermineshowhightheCOMwillriseafterTO.Themostimportant
factorrelatedtotheverticalvelocityofTOisthelowCOMpositionatTD(r=0.70,
p<0.01).Thesefindingsarewellinagreementwiththetheoreticalfindingsof
Alexander(1990)andtheearlierexperimentalresults(Dapena,1980;Greigand
Yeadon,2000).
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ThepartialheightsareveryclosetothedatareportedbyIiboshiet.al.(1991)aswell

asBrggemannandArampatzis(1997).TheseresultsshowedthatCOMheight
duringtheTDisrelatedtohandtechniquemorethanphysique.Topic,whoisusing
originalrunningarmaction,hadalowestvalueof68%ofthebodyheightcompared
tothehighestvalues(73%)ofthejumperswhousedwidedoublearmaction.This
differenceinarmactionsrefers8cm,ifthejumperis2mtall.Ontheotherhand,
speedflopperslikeTopichaveashortertakeofftime,greaterkneeangleandhigher
horizontalvelocityduringthetakeoffphasethanpowerfloppers.Thus,highknee
jointstiffnessiscrucialforthespeedflopperswhoprobablystoremoreelasticenergy
tothemuscletendoncomplexthanthepowerflopperswhosetakeoffisbasedmore
ontheconcentricmuscleaction.Theincreasedmuscleactivityofthelegextensorsin
thebrakingphaseofthecontactisalsoaprerequisiteforefficientstorageofelastic
energy(KomiandGollhofer,1997).
Itcanbeconcludedthathighjumperswithdifferentbodytypes,physical
characteristicsandperformancetechniqueshavegoodpossibilitiestocompete
successfullyinthehighestlevel.Thedifferentvariationsofthefloptechniquesenable
theutilizationofthebestphysicalcapacityoftheeachindividualjumper.Thereforeit
seemsthatthereisnotonlyoneidealtechniquetoachievegoodresults.
Page 10
References
Alexander,R.M.(1990).Optimumtakeofftechniquesforhighandlongjumps.Philosophical
TransactionsofTheRoyalSociety.B329,310.
Barrosetal.AMethodtoSynchroniseVideoCamerasusingtheAudioBand.Journalof
Biomechanics,GreatBritain,v.39,n.4,p.776780,2006.
Brggeman,G.P.andArampatzis,D.(1997)TripleJump.In:BiomechanicalResearchProject
at
theVIthWorldChampionshipsinAthletics,Athens1997:PreliminaryReport,H.MllerandH.
Hommel(eds.).NewStudiesinAthletics,13,5966.
Dapena,J.MechanicsoftranslationintheFosburyflop.Med.Sci.SportsExerc.12:3744,1980.
Dapena,J.MechanicsofrotationintheFosburyflop.Med.Sci.SportsExerc.12:4553,1980.
Dapena,J.Thehighjump.(2000).InV.Zatsiorsky(Ed.),BiomechanicsinSport(pp.284311).
BlackwellScience:Oxford.
Dapena,J.and.Chung,C.S.Verticalandradialmotionsofthebodyduringthetakeoffphaseof
highjumping.Med.Sci.SportsExerc.20:290302,1988.
Dapena,J.,McDonaldC.andCappertJ..ARegressionAnalysisofHighjumpingtechnique.
JournalofSportBiomechanics.6:246261,1990.
deLeva,P.AdjustmentstoZatsiorskySeluyanovssegmentinertiaparameters.J.
Biomechanics,
Vol.29,No.12231230,1996.
Greig,M.P.andYeadon,M.R.(2000).Theinfluenceoftouchdownparametersonthe
performance
ofahighjumper.J.App.Biomechanics16:367378.
Hay,J.G.(1973/1993).TheBiomechanicsofSportsTechniques(First/FourthEdition).
Prentice

Hall,Inc,EnglewoodCliffs.
Iiboshietal.Techniquesofelitehighjumpersatthe3
rd

IAAFWorldChampionshipsinathletics.
AbstractsoftheInternationalSocietyofBiomechanics,XIVthCongess,Paris,48July,1993,
vol.
I,Paris,s.n.,1993,pp.608609.
Komi,P.V.andGollhofer,A.(1997)Strechreflexescanhaveanimportantroleinforce
enhancementduringSSCexercise.JAppl.Biomechanics13:451460.
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Table1.Thephysicalcharacteristicsofthefinalists
Name
height(m)
weight(kg)
BMI
Result(m)
YuriyKrymarenko
1.85
62.0
18.1
2.32
VictorMoya
1.96
80.0
20.8
2.29
YaroslavRybakov
1.96
84.0
21.9
2.29
MarkBoswell
1.89
66.0
18.5
2.29
JaroslavBaba
1.96
80.0
20.8
2.29
NicolaCiotti
1.87
75.0
21.4
2.29
StefanHolm
1.81
70.0
21.4
2.29
VyacheslavVoronin

1.90
78.0
21.6
2.29
DracutinTopic
1.97
77.0
19.8
2.25
KyrikosIannou
1.93
66.0
17.7
2.25
OskariFrsen
1.94
86.0
22.9
2.20
MattHemingway
1.98
88.0
22.4
2.20
AndriySokolovskyy
1.96
80.0
20.8
2.20
average
1.92
76.3
20.6
2.27
standarddeviation
0.05
8.1
1.6
0.04

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Table2.Theheightofthecentreofthemassattheinstantoftouchdown(H1),toeoff(H2)and
duringthehighestpointtheflightpath(H3).Thevaluesarealsopresentedasapercentageofthe
standingheight.
Name
H1(m)
H2(m)
H3(m)
Result(m)
H1%
H2%
H3%
YuriyKrymarenko
0.88
1.32
2.40
2.32
47.51

71.08
2.40
VictorMoya
0.85
1.40
2.38
2.29
43.52
71.22
2.38
YaroslavRybakov
0.99
1.43
2.32
2.29
50.56
72.96
2.32
MarkBoswell
0.88
1.36
2.31
2.29
46.46
72.06
2.31
JaroslavBaba
0.93
1.41
2.33
2.29
47.40
71.79
2.33
NicolaCiotti
0.86
1.34
2.33
2.29
45.83
71.76
2.33
StefanHolm
0.87
1.28
2.32
2.29
48.07
70.72
2.32
VyacheslavVoronin
0.89
1.39
2.30
2.29
46.95
72.89
2.30
DracutinTopic

0.99
1.34
2.31
2.25
50.30
67.92
2.31
KyrikosIannou
0.98
1.36
2.29
2.25
50.67
70.47
2.29
OskariFrsen
0.97
1.42
2.29
2.20
50.05
73.40
2.29
MattHemingway
0.97
1.43
2.32
2.20
49.19
72.37
2.32
AndriySokolovskyy
0.97
1.40
2.24
2.20
49.44
71.33
2.24
average
0.93
1.37
2.32
2.27
48.15
71.54
2.32
standarddeviation
0.05
0.05
0.04
0.04
2.15
1.41
0.04

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Table3.Thevertical(Vv)andthehorizontal(Vh)velocityvaluesattheinstantofthetouchdown

(TD)andthetoeoff(TO)phasesduringthetakeoff.TheprojectionangleoftheCOMandthe
changeofthehorizontalvelocityduringthecontact(
Vh

).

Name
VhTD
VhTO
Vh
VvTD
VvTO
angle
YuriyKrymarenko
7.99
4.35
3.64
0.45
4.61
51.68
VictorMoya
7.36
3.75
3.61
0.34
4.39
50.55
YaroslavRybakov
7.59
4.31
3.28
0.45
4.18
51.87
MarkBoswell
7.87
4.42
3.45
0.20
4.32
51.37
JaroslavBaba
7.28
3.27
4.01
0.36
4.25
46.67
NicolaCiotti
8.03
4.35
3.68
0.48
4.40
50.07
StefanHolm
8.11
4.73
3.38
0.07

4.51
53.18
VyacheslavVoronin
7.31
3.75
3.56
0.20
4.23
49.92
DracutinTopic
8.29
4.83
3.46
0.64
4.36
51.54
KyrikosIannou
7.67
4.83
2.84
0.17
4.26
56.34
OskariFrsen
7.55
3.96
3.59
0.24
4.12
48.91
MattHemingway
8.10
4.62
3.48
0.40
4.18
50.23
AndriySokolovskyy
7.99
4.83
3.16
0.32
4.06
52.10
average
7.78
4.31
3.47
0.33
4.30
51.11
standarddeviation
0.34
0.49
0.28
0.16
0.15
2.27

Page 15
Table4.Thesupporttimesduringthelasttwocontactsandtheflighttimebetweenthem.The
lengthofthelaststrideanditsprojectionangletotheyaxis(parallelwithbarline).
Name
stridelenght
(m)
strideangle()
last(ms)
flighttime(ms)
takeoff(ms)
YuriyKrymarenko
2.01
32.11
0.135
0.060
0.170
VictorMoya
1.92
24.78
0.150
0.050
0.200
YaroslavRybakov
2.16
31.82
0.140
0.040
0.190
MarkBoswell
2.29
24.27
0.140
0.050
0.185
JaroslavBaba
2.03
37.30
0.160
0.080
0.200
NicolaCiotti
2.06
27.15
0.130
0.060
0.175
StefanHolm
1.99
25.60
0.145
0.055
0.150
VyacheslavVoronin
2.11
26.94
0.155
0.050
0.190

DracutinTopic
2.25
28.37
0.115
0.085
0.135
KyrikosIannou
1.97
26.36
0.175
0.060
0.155
OskariFrsen
2.12
25.42
0.165
0.055
0.180
MattHemingway
1.99
25.66
0.160
0.070
0.180
AndriySokolovskyy
2.30
35.70
0.140
0.040
0.170
average
2.09
28.58
0.147
0.058
0.175
standarddeviation
0.13
4.28
0.016
0.014
0.019

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Table5.Thekneeanglesattheinstantofthetouchdown(TD)andthetoeoff(TO)phasesduring
thetakeoffandthelowestkneeangleduringhecontact.
Name
kneeTD
kneelowest
kneeTO
YuriyKrymarenko
171.94
146.23
177.97
VictorMoya
163.83
135.41
169.16

YaroslavRybakov
168.49
141.80
173.51
MarkBoswell
164.40
127.90
168.68
JaroslavBaba
171.95
142.18
171.40
NicolaCiotti
170.38
143.95
178.02
StefanHolm
161.86
143.36
175.23
VyacheslavVoronin
166.81
142.79
168.92
DracutinTopic
173.90
163.50
177.96
KyrikosIannou
166.01
148.44
175.14
OskariFrsen
172.41
144.70
175.27
MattHemingway
166.51
138.07
175.45
AndriySokolovskyy
167.38
150.07
174.36
average
168.14
143.72
173.93
standarddeviation
3.73
8.26
3.40

Page 17
Figure1.Camerapositions,coordinatesystemandthemultiphasecalibrationarea

Page 18
Figure2.Theoverheadviewsofthepathsofthecentreofmass(COM)oftheeightbestfinalists

curves.XYcoordinatesofthetwolastcontactsandCOMlocationsduringthetouchdownand
toeoffphases.

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Figure3.Thehorizontal(Vh)andthevertical(Vv)velocitycurvesoftheeightbestfinalists.

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Figure3.Theheightofthecentreofmassduringthelasttwocontactsandtheflightphaseofthe
eightbestfinalists.