A model of the elastic take‐off energy in the long jump

A theoretical analysis of the long jump take-off is presented, with the conclusion that elastic effects are important. Measured data from the literature for groups of top athletes and average performers in the long jump confirm this conclusion and lead to an estimate of elastic energy conversion efficiency, which is very low (between 0.2 and 0.3), in contrast with much higher conversion efficiencies for the running stride.