Purpose: To quantify possible differences in countermovement jump height across sport disciplines and sex in national-team athletes. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 588 women (23 [5] y, 66 [8] kg) and 989 men (23 [5] y, 82 [12] kg) from 44 different sport disciplines (including 299 medalists from European Championships, World Championships, and/or Olympic Games) tested a countermovement jump on a force platform at the Norwegian Olympic Training Center between 1995 and 2018. Results: Athletic sprinting showed the highest values among the men (62.7 [4.8] cm) and women (48.4 [6.0] cm), clearly ahead of the long jump/triple jump (mean difference ± 90% CL: 6.5 ± 5.0 and 4.3 ± 4.1; very likely and likely; moderate) and speed skating sprint (11.4 ± 3.1 and 7.5 ± 5.5 cm; most likely and very likely; very large and moderate). These horizontally oriented sports displayed superior results compared with more vertically oriented and powerful sports such as beach volleyball, weightlifting, and ski jumping, both in men (from 2.9 ± 4.7 to 15.6 ± 2.9 cm; small to very large; possibly to most likely) and women (5.9 ± 4.8 to 13.4 ± 3.4 cm; large to very large; very likely to most likely), while endurance sports and precision sports were at the other end of the scale. Overall, the men jumped 33% higher than the women (10.3, ±0.6 cm; most likely; large). Conclusions: This study provides practitioners and scientists with useful information regarding the variation in countermovement jump height among national-team athletes within and across sport disciplines.
Haugen is with the School of Health Sciences, Kristiania University College, Oslo, Norway. Breitschädel is with the Norwegian Olympic Federation, Oslo, Norway, and the Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. Wiig is with the Dept of Physical Performance, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway. Seiler is with the Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.