Triple jump Triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the track and performs a hop, a bound and then a jump into the sand pit. The triple jump was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympics event since the Games' inception in 1896. According to IAAF rules, "the hop shall be made so that an athlete
Triple jump lands first on the same foot as that from which he has taken off; in the step he shall land on the other foot, from which, subsequently, the jump is performed." The current male and female world record holders are Jonathan Edwards of Great Britain, with a jump of , and Inessa Kravets of Ukraine, with a jump of . Both records were set during 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg. Historical sources on the ancient Olympic Games occasionally mention jumps of 15 meters or more. This led sports historians to conclude that these must have been a series of jumps,