Speed and the vertical jump, and how close do they actually correlate.
We all know jumping invloves power, and the power equation is velocity x force. So doas a high max velocity of an athlete nessacerly mean a high vertical leap?
Discuss! 
Peter
I think there’s a big correlation at the lower level. As in, if you were to take 2 mediocre athletes who didn’t do much training, you could probably make an pretty safe guess as to which one could run faster by how high they could jump, and the other way around.
At the higher level where more training is involved I think the correlation becomes less. The muscles for sprinting are slightly different than the ones for jumping. Muscles like the hamstrings aren’t as important for jumping as they are for sprinting. So training for one won’t necessarily develop the ones needed for the other to the same degree.
It’s usually a safe bet that if you are fast, you can usually jump high as well, but you can’t judge whether your faster than someone by how high you can jump. In NFL combines the people with the highest vertical jump don’t usually have the fastest 40. A fast 40, yes, but not the fastest.
Come to think of it. I was the best high jumper and fastest runner at my school before. I haven’t done high jump or any vertical tests in years. There is definately a correlation but so many other factors that affect sprinting that it’s not a very good way to base it.
I would say no !!
Maybe 30% of correlation !?!
Sprints & Speed involves lot of technique, not only strenght or explosiviness.
Vertical Jump involves much more power, strenght, explosiviness…but not techs as sprint.
But i confess, i´m very curious to know about Kim´s vertical jump.
I believe that your vertical jump has everything to do with the explosiveness of your hips which is obviously a huge part of sprinting. I believe that people focus too much on sprinters hamstrings for obvious reasons (usually most frequently injured muscle group a sprinter sustains). However, the ability to strike your foot efficiently and powerfully is done with a huge emphasis on hip stability and power.
Do some box jumps, depending on your skill level but start off around 30`inches and work your way up. Ato Boldon had extremely strong hips and could jump outta the stratosphere. Check his section on atoboldon.com and check his videos. Theres a sample of him jumping on two stacked boxes which are about 55 inches high. Strong hips fast sprinting!
not just hips, its quadripceps, calfs, and a upperbody strengthe. That enabled Ato Boldon to do that.
A guy that have speed ( elite sprinter ) can jump very high 4 sure, but
this not means that a guy with a high vertical jump will be fastest as the sprinter.
Actualy, is much more easy to train for high vertical jumps than train for speed running.
i think that there would be more of a correlation between your starting speed and vertical leap then overall speed
Ato’s box jump is actually 64 inches-just under nose height for him. On his site he also indicates that he had done that same jump with no walk up, which is phenomenal. However, I personally have done a jump of 58 inches (using a fast 4 step approach) but have never run under 11 seconds.
Correlations can be made for certain, and raw jumping ability may be the best single measure of pure explosiveness, but the technical aspects of sprinting, combined with the speed endurance requirements of running 100 meters (even over 60m!), makes this a unique endeavor.
Let’s remember that jumping is also a skill. This is why those who practice it often (volleyball, b-ball etc.) tend to be more proficient. Check the inner city basketball courts and you will find scores of athletes who can jump through the ceiling and are reasonably fast-particularly over 25-40m-but may not break 12.00 (or 7.5). Jumping is also less dependant upon body dimensions/proportions than running.
I should note however, that I have never failed to improve on my short speed while recording improvements in my vertcal jump, all factors being equal (which they often aren’t). This is particularly true of standing, versus block, starts.
Of course there is no one factor that will determine speed as various factors that help develop speed, however vertical jump is one of the better indicators of speed out of the blocks, where as I believe a 5 bound test may be a better indicator of maximum velocity.
Kelley Baggett talks about this issue in depth and has some very interesting and insightful things to offer. appears to speak from lots of experience and therefore with great authority. Check him out.