What Goes Up…

As we said before, there is one unique sport that we would touch on a bit more. Pole vaulters have a long history of raising the bar, as do high jumpers. Why add high jumpers to the mix? Well because every one of those athletes must do the same thing…land.

When pole vaulting in the past, the pole did not bend as much as it does today, so the vaulter did not go as high. Not quite an excuse for their landing but times were different back then. And while high jump already works with much lower heights, the way the athletes use to jump also gave them more control over their landing. Back then athletes jumped feet first facing towards the landing area. It was not until 1968, when Dick Fosbury arched his back, that high jump was changed forever. Athletes were able to achieve new heights with the “Fosbury Flop”. This did present the added hazard of no longer being able to control their landing the same way they had before.  

So, over the years how did they land? At first it was sand. Works just fine for the long jumpers so why not all jumpers right? Well of course like we said, athletes are constantly raising the bar and there is this silly little thing called safety. Landing areas had to evolve so the next stage was sawdust. At first sawdust was just piled on the ground. Later, pits of sawdust were made by surrounding the landing area with sandbags. After awhile instead of filling the middle with sawdust they filled it with pieces of foam. Foam was the choice that stuck, but if you’ve ever been in a foam pit you know it’s not the easiest to exit. So instead of pieces of foam, foam landing systems were created.

Gill’s landing systems have gone through their own evolution throughout the years. They have been engineered by collegiate athletes, professionals, and coaches to make sure that we think of everything. For example, we recently made our top pads go edge-to-edge and clip on the side. This way, when an athlete lands, they won’t accidently land on any carabiners. Our base is made entirely out of vinyl so that it keeps water out. Oh, and the inside foam is Gill’s Quadruple Duralife foam, which is 25% softer than others yet just as firm.

We have come a long way from the days of pole vaulters and high jumpers landing on sand. The higher they go, Gill will always have the safest landing system for them.