Dragutin Topic ups M40 WR to Valery Brumel in Russian’s prime!
This can’t be happening. A 41-year-old man has jumped as high as the 1960s world record of Valery Brumel — 2.28 meters or 7-5 3/4. But Dragutin Topic has been smashing barriers for years. Why should he stop? His latest jaw-dropper came May 20 at a meet in Beograd, Serbia, according to the IAAF season list. He thus raises his own listed WR of 2.24 (7-4 1/4) from 2011. On the Age-Graded Tables, Dragutin’s leap is worth an open mark of 2.55 meters (8-4 1/4). He may jump at London, having reached the Olympic B standard. I have nothing more to say about this. It is beyond comprehension. Thanks to Jim Barrineau, a former M40 WR man, for bringing this to our attention.
Dragutin is making the masters high jump record ridiculous beyond belief.
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i don’t know about this…it looks like he’s got tiny jets in the soles of his track spikes…they’re disguised as pin spikes…!
We may be looking at the George Blanda/Brett Farve of the high jump. The only other jumper of that age that I recall putting up that level of performance may have been Ray Kimble in the TJ, who hit around 55′, very close to the Oly B in TJ.
Un-flippin’-believable! To give some perspective, Jim’s recent M55 American record of 1.76 grades out to 2.28 Open. This guy is making you look like such a slacker, Jim, LOL. Just kidding!!…..and belated congrats to you on winning M55 Worlds in Finland! I saw a couple of your Finland jumps that Tom Foley posted on YouTube. Looked just as good as you did in Bloomington and same results! Way to go!!
Fantastic!
Unreal, however, I’ve been saying for years that masters’ athletes are the elite, they are setting standards that decades ago would have been scoffed at.
Another masters age athlete worth noting – Aleksandr Dryhol of Ukraine. At 45, he has hit 79.42 in the hammer(A standard) which puts him top 10 in the world this year.
Olympic year does bring out the best in some. Dryhol (born 1966!) throwing a lifetime best this spring, and a M45 world record by over 4 meters (he already had the record at 75.xx). This is 9 meters farther than any other M45 has thrown, ever. Amazing.
IN the scissors- or hurdling the bar as in the 1920s the center of gravity passes over the top of the bar. In the western roll type which Brumel did the center of gravity passes through the center of the bar. In the “Fosbury Flop” type of jumping used today the center of gravity passes under the bar adding 6-7 inches to what one can jump as compared to gthe western roll of Brumel.
This is why no one uses the later two types of jumping anymore.
The approach (or run-up) in the Flop style of high jump is characterised by (at least) the final four or five steps being run in a curve, allowing the athlete to lean in to his or her turn, away from the bar. This allows the center of gravity to be lowered even before knee flexion, giving a longer time period for the take-off thrust. Additionally, on take-off the sudden move from inward lean outwards produces a rotation of the jumper’s body along the axis of the bar, aiding clearance. Combined with the rotation around the jumper’s vertical axis produced by the drive leg (think of an ice skater spinning round on the spot) the resulting body position on bar clearance is laid out supine with the body at ninety degrees to the bar with the head and shoulders crossing the bar before the trunk and legs. This gives the Flop its characteristic “backwards over the bar” appearance, with the athlete landing on the mat on their shoulders and back. While in flight the athlete can progressively arch shoulders, back and legs in a rolling motion, keeping as much of the body as possible below the bar. It is possible for the athlete to clear the bar while his or her body’s center of mass remains as much as 20 cm below it.[1] While the Straddle style required strength in the takeoff knee and could be used by relatively burly athletes (cf. Valeriy Brumel), the Flop allowed athletes of a slender build to use their co-ordination to greater effect and not risk the knee injuries which they had previously suffered from other styles.
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