Average Broad Jump by Age 2026
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Average Broad Jump by Age 2026
The average broad jump for an untrained adult man is roughly 180-215 cm (6-7 ft); for an untrained adult woman it is 120-150 cm (4-5 ft). Trained or active adults perform notably higher - active men typically reach 200-230 cm and active women 150-170 cm. Boys peak around age 17-18 at a median of 210 cm, while girls plateau earlier at age 14-15 near 155 cm. The all-time unofficial world record, set by NFL cornerback Byron Jones in 2015, stands at 3.73 m (12 ft 3 in), more than 50 cm above what even elite college athletes produce. These 15 statistics break down exactly where different ages and sexes fall on the broad jump curve - and why the test matters far beyond sports scouting.
The broad jump (also called the standing long jump) is one of the oldest athletic tests on record. It debuted as an Olympic event in 1900, remained on the program through 1912, and reappeared in virtually every fitness battery since - from school PE assessments and military entry screening to NFL Draft Combine testing. Unlike the vertical jump, it measures horizontal explosive power: the ability to project body mass forward from a stationary position in a single coordinated effort.
For lifters and athletes tracking progress, the broad jump sits alongside average vertical jump norms and grip strength data as one of the most informative no-equipment power benchmarks you can test in a gym hallway. Below are 15 key statistics - covering youth norms, adult averages, sex differences, elite data, and training response - to help you interpret your own score.
1. Untrained Adult Men Average 180-215 cm; Women Average 120-150 cm
The baseline broad jump for sedentary or recreationally active adults sits at approximately 180-215 cm for men and 120-150 cm for women according to aggregated normative data compiled by fitness assessment specialists. These ranges reflect people who exercise occasionally but do not follow structured power or plyometric training programs. An "excellent" classification on most fitness norms begins at 2.50 m (250 cm) for men and 2.00 m (200 cm) for women - well above the untrained average. The gap between untrained and excellent performers spans roughly 35-40 cm, which represents the training effect a serious program can produce over months of consistent work. For lifters, a broad jump below body height is generally treated as a flag for undertrained explosive capacity.
Source: Topendsports - Standing Long Jump Test
2. Active Adult Men Reach 200-230 cm; Women 150-170 cm
Among adults who train regularly, broad jump performance climbs noticeably above untrained baselines. Active men typically produce 200-230 cm and active women 150-170 cm on standardised testing, based on performance benchmarks widely used in fitness coaching contexts. These ranges align with a "good" to "very good" rating on most age-matched norms. The practical implication is that structured training - even general resistance training without dedicated plyometric work - adds meaningful horizontal power. Athletes who add even 8-10 weeks of jump-focused sessions on top of a lifting program typically push past the upper bound of the "active" range. Tracking your broad jump quarterly is one way to confirm your program is developing power and not just isolated strength.
Source: Cartwright Fitness - Standing Long Jump Averages
3. Boys Peak at 210 cm (Age 18); Girls Plateau at 155 cm (Age 14-15)
A Hungarian youth study published in the European Journal of Translational Myology found that 50th-percentile broad jump values for boys rise steadily from 147 cm at age 11 to 210 cm at age 18. Girls follow a very different trajectory: median performance climbs from 140 cm at age 11 to approximately 155 cm by age 14-15, then levels off with negligible improvement through age 18. The divergence reflects the testosterone-driven muscle mass and power gains boys experience during late puberty. By age 18, the median sex gap reaches roughly 55 cm - a 26% advantage for males. Understanding these trajectories is important for youth coaches setting age-appropriate expectations.
4. 8 Million European Children Tested - Standing Broad Jump Is a Core Fitness Benchmark
The FitBack network study published in 2023 pooled standing broad jump data from nearly 8 million test performances across 34 European countries, making it the largest normative database for youth jump performance ever assembled. Standing broad jump was one of nine tests in the fitness battery, chosen because it requires zero equipment, takes under two minutes per participant, and captures lower-body explosive power reliably across diverse populations. The study provides population-weighted percentile tables for ages 6-18 by country and sex. FitBack data confirm that the broad jump is among the most sensitive indicators of muscular fitness decline over time - a pattern that has worsened since 2000 in most high-income countries.
Source: PMC - European fitness landscape for children and adolescents (FitBack 2023)
5. Children's Broad Jump Performance Has Declined Since the Year 2000
A landmark Sports Medicine meta-analysis extracted data from 34 studies covering 10,940,801 children and adolescents across 24 countries between 1960 and 2017. Standing broad jump showed steady gains from the 1960s through the 1980s, then began slowing in the 1990s and has declined since 2000. The overall per-decade trend across the full period was a negligible 1.73 cm improvement - masking the more alarming post-2000 reversal. Researchers attributed the modern decline to reduced unstructured outdoor play, rising screen time, and the general shift toward sedentary leisure. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the trend further: a 2025 Sports Medicine - Open analysis covering 2012-2023 confirmed that standing long jump was among the fitness components most negatively affected by pandemic lockdowns, with catch-up still incomplete by 2023.
6. Adult Men Jump 20-35% Farther Than Adult Women From a Standstill
A 2024 Royal Society Open Science study examined sex performance differences in both vertical and horizontal jumping. The research found that the performance gap for the standing broad jump - where both feet are planted at takeoff - is substantially larger than for run-in track events, with adult males typically jumping 20-35% farther than equivalently trained females. For context, the sex gap in elite Olympic distance running averages 10.7% and in track long jump (run-in) sits around 15-18%. The larger gap in the standing version reflects the more vertical jump trajectory required, where body mass must be projected upward as well as forward, amplifying the influence of relative muscle-to-mass ratios. This makes sex-specific norms essential - comparing a woman's score to a male benchmark understates her performance by a wide margin.
Source: Royal Society Open Science - Sex performance differences in vertical and horizontal jumping (2024)
7. Byron Jones Holds the Unofficial World Record at 3.73 m (12 ft 3 in)
On February 23, 2015, NFL cornerback Byron Jones leapt 3.73 m (12 feet 2.75 inches) at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, surpassing the previous combine record by 8 inches and exceeding the recognised official world mark of 3.71 m set by Norwegian shot putter Arne Tvervaag in 1968. Jones's jump is widely cited as the informal world record for the standing broad jump. For reference, the average untrained adult man jumps roughly 1.80-2.15 m - meaning Jones covered nearly twice the typical male baseline in a single effort. College football players typically average 2.7-3.0 m (9-10 ft) at camp combines, placing them roughly 70 cm below Jones's mark. That gap illustrates how rare elite horizontal power truly is.
Source: NFL.com - Byron Jones sets broad jump world record
8. Broad Jump Predicts 65-66% of Sprint Time Variance
Research published in Sports Biomechanics found that bilateral broad jump distance predicts 65-66% of the variance in sprint completion times at checkpoints from 5 to 30 meters in collegiate track and field athletes. A separate systematic review and meta-analysis published in BMC Sports Science and Medicine (PMC9899053) confirmed moderate-to-very-large associations between horizontal jump performance and sprint acceleration and maximal speed across multiple athletic populations. The correlation between broad jump distance and maximal sprint speed reached r = 0.71 in several studies. These numbers explain why sprint coaches and strength-and-conditioning professionals use the broad jump as a quick proxy for speed potential - and why improving your broad jump score tends to translate directly to faster 10-40 meter sprint times.
9. The Adult-Fit Study: SLJ Explains 78% of Lower-Body Explosive Strength (ICC = 0.94)
A 2024 study published in the European Journal of Sport Science (the Adult-Fit project) assessed the criterion-related validity and reliability of the standing long jump in 18-64 year-old adults with varying physical activity levels. The results showed that maximal horizontal power, sex, body fat percentage, maximal horizontal force, and lean mass together explained R² = 0.78 of the variance in standing long jump distance - confirming the test as a strong proxy for lower-body explosive muscular strength. Reliability was excellent, with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.94 between test sessions after a brief learning period. These values support using the broad jump in gym settings as a quick, equipment-free power assessment that is just as reliable as more expensive laboratory measures for general populations.
10. US Army OPAT Requires a Minimum 120 cm Broad Jump for Entry-Level Duty
The US Army Occupational Physical Assessment Test (OPAT) uses the standing broad jump to sort recruits into occupational tiers. The minimum "Gold" (moderate) standard is 120 cm (3 ft 11 in); the "Gray" (significant) tier requires 140 cm (4 ft 7 in); and the "Black" (heavy) tier for the most physically demanding roles starts at 160 cm (5 ft 3 in). These thresholds apply to both sexes. The fact that the Army uses a single no-equipment jump test as an occupational classifier underscores how strongly horizontal power correlates with real-world physical work capacity. Most recreationally active adult men already clear the Black tier comfortably at 2.0+ meters, but many sedentary adults fall below the Gold minimum.
Source: MilitarySpot - OPAT Grading Standards
11. Plyometric Training Boosts Standing Broad Jump With an Effect Size of 1.10
A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis (PMC9889940) examining plyometric versus complex training for lower-limb explosive power found that plyometric training improved the standing long jump with a pooled effect size of 1.10 - a large and clinically meaningful gain. Complex training (combining heavy resistance with plyometrics in the same session) produced even greater effect sizes in broad jump performance compared to plyometrics alone. Programs lasting more than 10 weeks with more than 20 total sessions and more than 50 jumps per session produced the greatest improvements. For lifters who already track strength progression, adding a systematic jump-training block with logged volume is a direct way to build the horizontal power that broad jump norms measure.
12. Jump Performance Declines in Older Adults and Predicts Fall Risk
A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis published in BMC Geriatrics (PMC13085499) found that jump performance is consistently and moderately positively associated with locomotor capacity in high-functioning older adults and may serve as a sensitive marker of early mobility-related functional decline. Mechanography data from a separate study showed that jumping parameters - maximal velocity, force, and power - decrease faster in older adults who have experienced falls versus those who have not. Track-and-field master athletes maintain substantially higher jump performance than sedentary age-matched peers (mean vertical jump height of 28.5 cm versus 15.1 cm in one study), and female athletes also show a slower rate of decline, suggesting regular training preserves horizontal power into later decades.
13. At Age 13, the Middle 50% of Boys Jump 150-196 cm; Girls Jump 132-176 cm
Percentile data published in the European Journal of Translational Myology (Thomas et al., 2020, PMC7385687) show that the interquartile range for 13-year-old boys on the standing broad jump spans 150-196 cm, with a median of approximately 173 cm. For 13-year-old girls the IQR spans 132-176 cm, with a median near 154 cm. The difference is already substantial at age 13 - roughly 19 cm at the median - and will widen further through age 18 as male-pattern pubertal gains accelerate. These norms cover a large European sample and are widely used by school PE teachers and youth sports coaches to set age-appropriate benchmarks. A 13-year-old boy at 173 cm would be considered average; at 196 cm he would be in the top quarter.
Source: PMC - Percentile values of the standing broad jump in children and adolescents aged 6-18 years old
14. Standing Broad Jump Performance Peaks in the Mid-Twenties for Men
For most people, standing long jump distances trend upward from the early teens into the mid-twenties - widely considered the peak years for neuromuscular power output - before levelling off and beginning a gradual decline around age 40. Japan's Ministry of Education (MEXT) annual fitness survey, which has tested approximately 75,000 Japanese citizens aged 6-79 annually since 1964, documents this arc across the lifespan. Data from the survey show that men in their 20s produce the highest average standing long jump scores, while women peak slightly earlier. After age 40 the decline accelerates, and by the late 50s and 60s scores fall materially below peak levels. Maintaining explosive power training through the 30s and 40s substantially slows this trajectory.
Source: Japan Ministry of Education (MEXT) - Adults (20 to 64 years old) Physical Fitness Survey
15. Lean Muscle Mass of the Lower Limbs, Trunk, and Upper Limbs All Influence Broad Jump
A 2025 study published in PMC (PMC12225348) examined the effects of regional muscle strength and mass on standing long jump performance. The research found that broad jump distance is significantly correlated with lean muscle mass not just in the lower limbs but also in the trunk and upper limbs - confirming that the test reflects whole-body coordinated power rather than isolated leg strength. Maximal horizontal power and lean mass were among the strongest independent predictors of broad jump distance in multivariate models. This means that a structured strength program that builds mass and power across the full body - not just squats and leg press - produces the best broad jump gains. It also means the broad jump is a more holistic power marker than many single-muscle tests.
Source: PMC - The Effects of Regional Muscle Strength and Mass on Standing Long Jump Performance (2025)
16. Horizontal Jump Correlates More Strongly With Sprint Speed Than Vertical Jump Does
Research published in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology and a 2025 study in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living examining female sprinters and team sport athletes found that horizontal jump tests - including the standing broad jump - correlate more strongly with maximal sprint speed than vertical jump tests do. Sprint velocity correlated with step length in horizontal jumps at r = 0.64-0.71, outperforming the vertical jump's correlation with sprint parameters in the same populations. This is because horizontal jumping and sprinting share the same mechanical demand: generating large horizontal ground reaction forces in a short contact time. For team-sport athletes, coaches, and anyone interested in speed development, the broad jump is the more predictive of the two jump tests.
17. Standing Long Jump Was an Olympic Event from 1900 to 1912; Removed as Distances Stagnated
The standing long jump appeared in the Summer Olympic Games in 1900, 1904, 1908, and 1912 before being removed from the program. According to historical records on Topendsports and Wikipedia, the event was discontinued partly because performance plateaued among elite competitors with relatively little year-to-year variation at the top. Ray Ewry of the United States dominated all three Summer Olympic appearances, winning gold each time. The standing long jump world record of 3.71 m by Arne Tvervaag (1968) stood untouched in official competition for over 50 years before Byron Jones's 2015 combine jump surpassed it in an unofficial setting. The event's long history and stable record progression make it a rare benchmark where modern untrained adults can directly compare themselves to early 20th-century athletes.
Source: Wikipedia - Standing long jump
What These Numbers Tell Lifters and Athletes
Taken together, the data paint a consistent picture. The broad jump is a reproducible, equipment-free measure of lower-body horizontal power with documented predictive validity for sprint performance, occupational physical capacity, and long-term functional independence. The normative ranges are wide enough to be motivating at every level - a sedentary adult adding 20 cm to a broad jump score over six months is a meaningful, measurable win - and specific enough to reveal real gaps between recreational and trained performance.
The sex difference (20-35% for the standing version) and the age trajectory (peak in mid-20s, gradual decline accelerating after 40) are not fixed outcomes. The training literature consistently shows that plyometric and complex training programs produce large effect sizes on this specific test, and that master athletes who maintain structured programs can stay well above sedentary age-matched peers for decades. This aligns with strength training data showing that consistent resistance and power training preserves neuromuscular function long into middle age.
The youth data deserve attention separately. Broad jump performance in children has declined since 2000 in most high-income countries, and the COVID pandemic set youth explosive fitness back further with incomplete recovery by 2023. Building jump-training habits early - and tracking them - creates a foundation that carries into adult athletic life.
A single broad jump test, logged regularly, gives lifters one of the clearest windows into whether their training is converting strength gains into real-world explosive power.
Track the Tests That Actually Show Progress
Broad jump norms are useful precisely because they connect to training. Knowing you are at 185 cm today and targeting 210 cm by the end of a 12-week block gives your program a concrete, measurable goal. The problem most lifters face is inconsistent logging - recording bench press and squat numbers but skipping the power and speed tests that show whether the strength is translating.
Gainwise is built to solve that problem. Its AI coach adapts your program to your equipment, injury history, and goals, while hands-free on-device voice logging means you can record every set and test result without touching your phone. Your full training history - including benchmark tests like the broad jump - is always yours, safe and exportable, so you can track trends over months and years rather than guessing from memory.
Join the Gainwise waitlist and start tracking every benchmark test alongside your lifts - so you always know whether your training is building real explosive power.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average broad jump for an adult man?
An untrained adult man averages roughly 180-215 cm (6-7 ft) on the standing broad jump. Actively training men typically reach 200-230 cm. An "excellent" rating on most fitness norms begins at 250 cm. Performance peaks in the mid-twenties and begins declining gradually around age 40.
What is the average broad jump for an adult woman?
An untrained adult woman averages approximately 120-150 cm (4-5 ft). Regularly active women typically reach 150-170 cm. An "excellent" rating for women begins at 200 cm on most normative tables. Women's broad jump performance peaks slightly earlier than men's, typically in the late teens to early 20s.
What is the world record for the standing broad jump?
The unofficial world record is 3.73 m (12 ft 2.75 in), set by NFL cornerback Byron Jones at the 2015 NFL Scouting Combine. The official recognised record of 3.71 m was set by Norwegian shot putter Arne Tvervaag in 1968 and stood for over 50 years before Jones's leap.
How much can training improve a broad jump score?
Systematic reviews show that plyometric training improves the standing long jump with a large effect size of approximately 1.10. Programs lasting more than 10 weeks with over 20 sessions and 50+ jumps per session produce the greatest gains. Complex training - combining heavy resistance work with plyometrics - produces slightly larger improvements than plyometrics alone.
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