This article aims to provide a summary drawn from the current literature of the main aspects of the horizontal jumping events in track and field athletics as a general guide and a starting point for further study. The horizontal jumping events can be defined as those disciplines where the athlete tries to jump as far as possible, whereas in the vertical jumps the athlete aims to jump as high as possible. Although this definition may seem trivial, it is important to point out that, from a purely technical or biomechanical point of view, the jumping action in the pole vault is not so much vertically directed but rather it is horizontal into the bending pole, as it were, giving the event a common characteristic with the two disciplines that will be covered below - the long jump and the triple jump. But because the goal of the pole vault to clear as great a height as possible it is classified as a vertical jump. In the sections below we will look first at the most important commonalities between the two horizontal jumps and then at the two disciplines in some detail including basic descriptions, technique, teaching procedure and training.
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