The Long Jump: Rules, Records and Fantasy Scoring

What the event is

Athletes sprint down a runway, take off from a wooden board and jump as far as they can into a sand pit. The long jump is the most direct of the field events, a sprint with a leap at the end, and its best exponents are among the fastest athletes in the sport. It is measured from the front edge of the board to the nearest mark in the sand, so a jump is only as long as the athlete's worst landing point.

How it is run

Each athlete gets three jumps. After three rounds, the top eight get three more, for six in total. The result is the athlete's single best legal jump. Ties are broken by the second-best jump.

A jump is a foul if any part of the takeoff foot goes past the front edge of the board. At major meets the board is monitored by video or laser, so the margin is a matter of millimetres. Athletes trade risk for distance: take off further back and the jump is safe but shorter, take off on the edge and it is longer but might not count. Three fouls in the first three rounds means no result at all.

The same 2.0 metres per second wind limit as the sprints applies. Wind-assisted jumps count in the competition but not for records or personal bests.

Championships run a qualifying round and a final. One-day meets run a single competition.

What a world-class mark looks like

Jumping 8.30m for men and 7.00m for women is world class. Championship medals typically need 8.30m or better and 6.90m or better. The world records of 8.95m and 7.52m were set in 1991 and 1988 and are among the most durable marks in athletics.

How the long jump scores in Heatsheet

The long jump fills the field roster slot with the high jump, pole vault, triple jump and the throws, and your lineup can start two field athletes. Finals pay 10 down to 1.

For fantasy purposes the long jump rewards consistency over raw distance. The athletes who reliably land three legal jumps in the 8.20m range finish on the podium week after week; the ones who chase 8.50m and foul twice produce spectacular zeros. Check an athlete's foul rate as well as their best mark. Full rules on the scoring page.