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Before the establishment of the IAAF and the official ratification system, the men’s high jump World Record progression reflected the gradual evolution of athletics from informal local competitions to organised international sport. During the early nineteenth century, many leading marks were achieved in Scotland and Great Britain, where Highland Games and regional athletic meetings played a major role in the event’s development. Heights improved steadily from Adam Wilson’s 1.575m in 1827 to marks beyond 1.80m by the late nineteenth century, illustrating both growing competition standards and improvements in training methods.

The late pre-IAAF period also coincided with major technical innovations in high jump technique. American jumper Michael Sweeney raised the best mark to 1.97m in 1895 using an improved version of the Eastern cut-off style, while George Horine became the first athlete to clear 2.00 metres territory, reaching 1.985m in 1912 with the revolutionary Western Roll technique. These developments laid the foundations for the modern high jump and marked the transition into the official IAAF era of World Record recognition.

High Jump men world record progression – data table

Perfrormace	Athlete	Country	Date	Location	Competition	Notes
2.45	Javier Sotomayor	CUB	27/7/1993	Salamanca	Internatinal Meeting
2.44	Javier Sotomayor	CUB	29/7/1989	San Juan	CAC Championships
2.43	Javier Sotomayor	CUB	8/9/1988	Salamanca	International Meeting
2.42	Patrik Sjöberg	SWE	30/6/1987	Stockholm	DN Galan
2.42	Carlo Thränhardt	FRG	26/2/1988	Berlin (West)	Berlin Indoor
2.41	Igor Paklin	URS	4/9/1985	Kobe	Universiade
2.40	Rudolf Povarnitsyn	URS	11/8/1985	Donetsk	International Meeting
2.39	Jianhua Zhu	CHN	10/6/1984	Eberstadt	International Meeting
2.38	Jianhua Zhu	CHN	22/9/1983	Shanghai	International Meeting
2.37	Jianhua Zhu	CHN	11/6/1983	Beijing	International Meeting
2.36	Gerd Wessig	GDR	1/8/1980	Moskva	The XXII Olympic Games
2.35	Jacek Wszola	POL	25/5/1980	Eberstadt	International Meeting
2.35	Dietmar Mögenburg	FRG	26/5/1980	Rehlingen	International Meeting
2.34	Vladimir Yashchenko	URS	16/6/1978	Tbilisi	Junior Int. math, USA-URS
2.33	Vladimir Yashchenko	URS	3/7/1977	Richmond	Junior Pravda Cup
2.32	Dwight Stones	USA	4/8/1976	Philadelphia	International Meeting
2.31	Dwight Stones	USA	5/6/1976	Philadelphia	NCAA Championships
2.30	Dwight Stones	USA	11/7/1973	M?nchen	FRG-USA-SUI Int. Match
2.29	Pat Mayzorf	USA	3/7/1971	Berkeley	USA-URS Int. Match
2.28	Valeriy Brumel	URS	21/7/1963	Moskva	SU-USA Int. Match
2.27	Valeriy Brumel	URS	29/9/1962	Moskva		Invitation event and WR attempt during a students sport meeting
2.26	Valeriy Brumel	URS	22/7/1962	Stanford	USA-URS Int. Match
2.25	Valeriy Brumel	URS	31/8/1961	Sofia	Universiade
2.24	Valeriy Brumel	URS	15/7/1961	Moskva	URS-USA Int. Match
2.23	Valeriy Brumel	URS	18/6/1961	Moskva	Moskva Cup
2.22	John Thomas	USA	1/7/1960	Palo Alto	US Olympic Trials
2.18	John Thomas	USA	24/6/1960	Bakersfield	AAU Championships
2.17	John Thomas	USA	30/4/1960	Philadelphia	Penn Relays
2.17	John Thomas	USA	21/5/1960	Cambridge MA	New England Intercollegiates
2.16	Yuriy Stepanov	URS	13/7/1957	Leningrad	Inter City Meeting
2.15	Charley Dumas	USA	29/6/1956	Los Angeles	US Olympic Trials
2.12	Walt Davis	USA	27/6/1953	Dayton	AAU Championships
2.11	Lester Steers	USA	17/6/1941	Los Angeles	PCC-Big 10 Championships
2.09	Mel Walker	USA	12/8/1937	Malm?	International Meeting
2.07	Cornelius Johnson	USA	12/7/1936	New York	US Olympic Trials
2.07	David Albritton	USA	12/7/1936	New York	US Olympic Trials
2.06	Walter Marty	USA	28/4/1934	Palo Alto	Fresno State Dual
2.04	Walter Marty	USA	13/5/1933	Fresno	West Coach Relays
2.03	Harold Osborn	USA	27/5/1924	Urbana	Pre=Olympic Trial qualification
2.01	Ed Beeson	USA	2/5/1914	Berkeley	Pacific Coast Conferenve Championships
2.00	George Horine	USA	18/5/1912	Stanford	Western Olympic try-outs

See also: [Men’s Pole Vault WR Progression][Women’s High Jump Progression]