Three-step wonder: Willie Banks and his M60 American record

In a flopper world, Willie Banks is an unapologetic straddler. But he does it the hard way — taking three steps to the bar. Last Saturday, a gentleman named Bob Larsen captured Willie’s 1.73 meter (5-8) clearance for a M60 American record, which beat the listed AR of 1.72 (5-7¾) by fellow San Diego County jumper Phil Fehlen in 1998. When I informed Phil of the new record, he replied: “Wouldn’t it be great to see the USA get back the [world] record and with the straddle? The flop is an ugly name and an unattractive style but has the advantages of clearance with a lower center of mass and using greater speed in the approach. I hope Banks can get that record [1.81 by Russia straddler Vladimir Kuntsevich], but it won’t be easy.”

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June 1, 2016

9 Responses

  1. Willie Banks - June 1, 2016

    Nice video! The music makes it very cool, thanks!!! Hope to see you again Bob…

  2. Matt McCubbins - June 2, 2016

    awesome, awesome, AWESOME! Three cheers for “3-Step Willie” !!!

  3. Michael Walker - June 2, 2016

    A great jump. In defense of a short approach run, the main objective is to get enough speed to maximize vertical lift. There are no extra points given for running a certain distance and the longer run the more chance for errors. Besides it works for Willie!

  4. Peter Hlavin - June 4, 2016

    Congrats! Excellent leap. Keep soaring… always!

  5. Владимир Кунцевич - June 5, 2016

    Перекидной стиль более эффективный потому что уменьшает нагрузку на толчковую ногу во время отталкивания.Но он более сложный в обучении техники прыжка.Сейчас перекидной забыли и никто не обучает .А некоторым прыгунам он подходит лучше чем флоп.

    English via Google Translate:

    Rocker style is more effective because it reduces the load on the leg during jogging ottalkivaniya.No it is more complicated to learn the art pryzhka.Seychas changeover forgotten and nobody teaches .a some jumpers it fits better than the flop.

  6. Matt McCubbins - June 7, 2016

    Just thought I’d call attention to something: When I run the username from Post #5 through Google Translate, guess what name is revealed?

    Why, it’s the reigning M60 World Record holder himself!

    Владимир Кунцевич = “Vladimir Kuntcevich” (not sure why Google used ‘c’ instead of ‘s’ in the last name)

  7. Ken Stone - June 7, 2016

    Hey, I was just thrilled to see Cyrillic script on my blog!

  8. Thomas Zacharias - June 8, 2016

    “… the advantages of clearance with a lower center of mass and using greater speed in the approach.”
    Hi guys! Always with this old myth! Straddle biomecs are better. Only: People don’t like to change their opinions. That’s why the whole worlds politics and culture is on the way back to the middle age. Best regards, Thomas (straddled 1m84 at 59,3 y)

  9. Rob Schenk - June 9, 2016

    Straddle has a lower center of mass if you dive on the back side of the bar. Also you don’t have to clear the 3 or 4 inches we call the butt!

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