Why do we have so many injuries with triple jump?

Triple jump is a really hard discipline, and as with all another sport injuries it is inevitable but at the same time avoidable. I have travelled all over the world and it still surprises me how coaches select and train an athlete specifically for triple jump.

For me it is difficult to believe that coaches will continue to use the same training technique over a number of years with the same athlete, when it’s clear that the athlete is not making any progress, and something obviously has to be changed in their training programme. There is often a lack of knowledge about training systems and a lack of ability to improvise while working with individual athletes.

To avoid injuries and keep an athlete healthier, the first thing you have to do is work really well  specifically  on the base of triple jump.

 I know that for an athlete of 13 or 14 years, because his bone density is not sufficiently developed, it is dangerous to work with e.g. plyometric training of hard impact, and also excessive jumps over long distances can cause them severe injuries. This doesn’t mean, however, that you have to avoid working with plyometrics exercises with young athletes- the difference is that the exercises have to be made for each individual athlete according to their talent.  

Before you start to work with plyometrics exercises it is important first to develop his coordination, sense of rhythm, sense of time and space and run technique. All of this, the athlete has to develop during the special base for triple jump. If an athlete brings with him a good technique from the beginning, the chance to avoid an injury is greatly improved.

If you, as a coach want to take an athlete to the elite without injuries, it is very important to keep polishing the technique in all its stages, only in this way can you have the results that you want.