Horizontal jumpers and armchair athletes criticised the new technology used to judge take-off fouls at the World Indoors in Belgrade but have they overstepped the mark?

New technology used to judge whether long and triple jumpers are fouling their attempts on take-off caused a stir at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. Perplexed onlookers were convinced that several legal jumps were ruled out as no-jumps and have demanded that organisers go back to using the tried-and-trusted method of plasticine on the board.

Replacing the traditional use of plasticine in Belgrade, we saw hi-tech equipment used to declare a foul if any part of the athlete’s foot broke the vertical plane of the take-off line. On each attempt a green or red light flashed depending on whether the jump was okay or a foul, leading to one of the biggest talking points of the championships.

First, the bad news for critics of the new technology. World Athletics has confirmed to AW that it will be used again at the World Championships in Oregon this summer and will not be reviewed in coming months.

The good news is that many of the criticisms may have been misplaced, given that most people were commenting on images shown on television or the internet from a broadcast camera that was not positioned at the same angle as the official measuring camera. The latter is calibrated to the vertical plane and, given this, the global governing body is confident the system can be trusted and is here to stay.

Certainly the equipment caused furore on social media with four-time Olympic long jump champion Carl Lewis particularly fierce with his words, as he tweeted: “The rules committee has destroyed the field events. They are an embarrassment to this and any sport. They have no f##%&@@ clue about any of these events. This makes no sense, as we went down this road in the 1980s. Who brings these ideas up in the first place?”

Shara Proctor, the British record-holder with 7.07m and, aged 33, a super-experienced competitor, expressed bemusement over a leap by the Ukrainian Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, too, saying: “When will they stop changing the rules in our event.”

I am confused. How is this a foul? When will they stop changing the rules in our event? What even is this rule? pic.twitter.com/AifEKvnAXG

— Shara Proctor (@SharaProctor) March 20, 2022

Proctor was perhaps referring to the controversial ‘final 3’ rule in field events as well which has drawn criticism in the Diamond League especially.

Another British long jumper, Jazmin Sawyers, who was due to compete in Belgrade until a minor injury struck, has also slated the ‘final 3’ ruling and on seeing the take-off fouls in Belgrade, she said on Instagram: “There are some problems with this no jumping system. It’s not consistent and it’s not working so they need to sort that out for the rest of the year.”

Bekh-Romanchuk’s fifth round jump in Belgrade came under particular scrutiny with the athlete’s effort ruled out despite being seemingly fine on the broadcast footage. Within moments of the decision, too, the 26-year-old went to look at the evidence on a video screen near the runway and walked off shaking her head in bemusement.

Other critics have simply called for the take-off board to be removed so that jumps are measured from the point of take-off (perhaps using a take-off zone) to landing.

As for the new take-off rule, it was actually introduced in November 2019 but not used in 2020 or most of 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic causing disruption to the competition calendar, with among other things the Olympic Games being postponed by 12 months.

When it was launched World Athletics described the rule, saying: “Currently, a no-jump is called if an athlete is judged, while taking off, to have touched the ground beyond the take-off line. A plasticine board set at an angle of 45° has been long used to assist with such decisions. Under the new Technical Rule (number 30.1.1), it will be a failure on take-off if any part of the take-off shoe or foot breaks the vertical plane of the take-off line.

“It was felt that this would be more understandable and simpler to judge. The old rule occasionally allowed toecaps to visibly broach the line without marking plasticine. In the future, such moments are to be fouls and the plasticine board, if used, is to be set at 90°.”

With the equipment required being fairly expensive, though, it seems certain the majority of athletics competitions at sub-elite level will continue to use plasticine and a trusty tape measure for the time being.