By Mikayla van Loon
In just a couple of weeks throughout June and July, Harlem Willis broke the world record in his age group for the longest standing jump four times over.
The nine-year-old from Mooroolbark first broke the existing 188cm jump record by jumping 189cm from standing still.
From there, he only improved jumping a consecutive 192.5cm, 194.5cm and finally 203cm, scoring himself four medals from the Kids World Records, an international record keeping organisation based in Canada.
“They were all done in June, July with a week or two in between each one and he can try and break it again but a standing jump of 203cm is not easy to break,” Harlem’s mum Christine Willis said.
“Because when I stand and leap forward, it’s only 120 centimetres. I don’t know how he does it as a nine-year-old.”
The long standing jump was once an Olympic event in the early 1900s, with it first being included in Paris in 1900 and last run in 1912 in Stockholm.
Ray Ewry set the first men’s world record, jumping 3.47m in 1904, with the current unofficial long standing jump record sitting with NFL player Byron Jones, who in 2015 jumped 3.73m.
Christine said Harlem began athletics at the age of five in the under six age group events and has since competed in long jump, triple jump, hurdles and sprints.
“He was basically jumping before he could walk, right from a baby. All he’s ever done is jump, jump off things, jump through things, jump around things,” she said.
As a rather athletic family, with his three older siblings reaching multiple national titles and world rankings, Christine said it’s nice now for Harlem to be reaching his own goals and sharing in some of the reward.
“He was born at the track pretty much. He’s lived at the track since about two days old. It’s all he’s ever known. He’s just witnessed his siblings [achieving],” she said.
“He just smiles from ear to ear when he goes around explaining and telling people.”
Currently training one on one with his mum, Christine said Harlem is starting to enjoy high jump and she hopes she can get him training with a jumps coach in the future to only help him improve.
Harlem’s fifth world record for the seven to nine age group found him to have the largest foot, measuring a total of 27cm and a shoe size of men’s 11.
To watch Harlem’s record jump, go to www.kidsworldrecords.com/records and search ‘Harlem’.
