Long Jump Prospect

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28474, 2 January 1958, Page 9

Long Jump Prospect

Franz Stampfl, the famous athletics coach, believes that a 19-year-old Australian schoolboy, Jim McCann, will be the first person to break Jesse Owens’s long-standing broad jump record. •‘He will walk away with next year’s Empire Games title and with some refinements of style I think he’ll win the Olympic title and perhaps break Owens’s world mark of 26ft odd, set at the 1936 Olympics,” Stampfl said recently.

McCann has kindled the almost traditional Australian exuberance and has already been described as “the athletic marvel of the age,” but his performances have been exceptional for a boy of his age and inexperience. He has run 100 yards in 9.ssec, 220 yards in 21.25 c, and has regularly broad jumped 25ft Bin. Stampfl has advised McCann, who leaves school this year, to concentrate on the board jump, notwithstanding his brilliant performances in other athletic events. McCann is a lean, fair-haired boy whose legs are not strong enough to gain sufficient rise from the board at the start of his jump. This, and his poor flailing style, are overcome by his tremendous speed. Several Australian athletics experts consider McCann’s style is at present robbing him of six or more inches in his jump. His style is being polished to assist him in his aim of 26ft for the Empire Games and at least 26ft 6in for the 1960 Olympics.