Your foot has almost nothing to do with your measured distance. The tape starts at the take-off line, which is the edge of the board nearest the pit, and it does not care that you took off four inches behind it. That is why a clean jump from a foot back still measures short. The other end goes to the nearest break in the sand made by any part of you, which is usually a heel and is sometimes a hand you put down behind yourself on the landing.
Distance is measured from the line, not from your toe, so a take-off 20 cm back is 20 cm off the result. Officials reviewing video sometimes note where the foot actually was, but that number never touches the score sheet. It is the single cheapest distance in the event. The full list of ways to lose the jump entirely is in what is a foul in long jump.
A jump measured at 6.789 m is recorded as 6.78 m. World Athletics rounds down to the lower centimetre, and NFHS records to the nearest lesser quarter inch or centimetre. Nothing rounds up, ever. Those fractions are worth nothing to a personal best and a lot to a tie break. Distances at every level are recorded that way, worth remembering when you read the by-age long jump benchmarks.
A jump with a tailwind over +2.0 m/s still counts for the meet, for place and for team points. It simply cannot be ratified as a record. Most American high school meets never take a reading, so the wind column on your results page is often blank by design. What that tailwind is actually worth over 100 metres is in the wind conversion table.
The tape tells you the result. It does not tell you that you left 25 cm behind the line or that your take-off angle was flat. Film a jump and AI breaks the two apart so you know which one to work on.
Follow up in chat and ask questions. The AI remembers your analysis and speaks the language of long jump coaching.
This is the World Athletics sequence from Technical Rule 29. NFHS 6-7-4 through 6-7-6 follows the same shape with different rounding.
The judge raises a white flag first. Under normal practice a trial with an irregularity is not measured at all, so a red flag ends the process before the tape comes out.
Any part of the body counts, and so does anything attached to it at the moment it made the mark. A trailing hand behind the heels becomes the measuring point. Officials set a pin vertically at that break.
The measurement runs to the take-off line or its extension, at a right angle to it. Not along the line of travel, and not to wherever the athlete's foot happened to be.
The zero end sits at the pin in the sand and the reading is taken at the take-off line, so the athlete sees the result the moment it is called.
World Athletics records to the nearest 0.01 m below the measured distance unless the measurement lands on a whole centimetre. NFHS records to the nearest lesser quarter inch or centimetre.
Outdoors the gauge sits 20 m from the take-off line, 1.22 m high and no more than 2 m from the runway. It runs for 5 seconds from the moment the athlete passes a mark 40 m out from the take-off line, or 35 m in the triple jump.
The procedural numbers, with the body that sets each one.
| Item | World Athletics | NFHS (US high school) |
|---|---|---|
| Measured from | Take-off line or its extension | Foul line or its extension |
| Measured to | Nearest break in the sand by any body part | Nearest mark in the pit made by person or apparel |
| Angle | Perpendicular to the take-off line | Perpendicular to the foul line |
| Rounding | Down to the nearest 0.01 m, TR 29 | Down to the nearest quarter inch or cm, 6-7-6 |
| Fouls measured | Normally not measured | Not measured, 6-7-6 |
| Where the reading is taken | At the take-off line | At the takeoff board, 6-7-5 |
| Wind gauge position | 20 m from take-off line, 1.22 m high, within 2 m of runway | Not required at most meets |
| Wind measurement window | 5 seconds from a mark 40 m out | Not specified |
| Wind limit for record ratification | +2.0 m/s average or less | Varies by state association |
| Time per attempt | 1 minute, TR 25.17 | 1 minute, 6-2-2 |
Common questions athletes and coaches ask about this topic.
A directory of every long jump page on the site, from broad analysis tools to specific phase deep-dives. Each entry points to a focused write-up.
Download the app. Film a rep. See what the AI sees. Free first analysis, no card, no account required.
