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The women’s long jump was one of the earliest field events to develop a recognisable international record history, and by the time official women’s federations began to emerge it already had a substantial pre-federation background. Unlike some of the more technically unsettled early women’s events, the long jump progressed within a comparatively familiar competitive framework, with marks recorded in school, club and national meetings from the late nineteenth century onward. Even so, the earliest performances belong to a period in which women’s athletics was still only loosely organised, and the pre-federation progression reflects a landscape of scattered competitions, uneven documentation and limited international contact.

The first known best marks were recorded primarily in the United States, where college sport and school athletics provided an early platform for women’s jumping events, before the event spread more visibly into continental Europe in the 1910s and early 1920s. By that stage, the women’s long jump had already begun to move away from isolated exhibition-style performances and toward a more structured event profile, with German and Central European athletes playing an increasingly important role in raising the standard before the FSFI era began.

That transition proved decisive for the event’s development. Once women’s international federations began ratifying records, the long jump quickly became one of the most competitive women’s field events of the interwar years, with athletes such as Marie Mejzlíková, Kinue Hitomi and Muriel Gunn helping establish the first truly international progression. In that sense, the women’s long jump bridges two different historical phases: an early pre-federation period rooted in local and collegiate athletics, and a more formal international era in which the event rapidly acquired a coherent world-record history.

Long Jump, women World Record Progression – Data Table

Performance	Athlete	Country	Date	Location	Competition	Notes
7.45	Galina Chistyakova	URS	11/6/1988	Leningrad	31st Znamenskiy Memorial
7.52	Galina Chistyakova	URS	11/6/1988	Leningrad	31st Znamenskiy Memorial
7.45	Jacqueline (Jackie) Joyner-Kersee	USA	13/8/1987	Indianapolis	Pan American Games
7.45	Heike Drechsler	GDR	3/7/1986	Dresden	24th Olympic Day
7.45	Heike Drechsler	GDR	21/6/1986	Tallinn	International Match URS-GDR
7.44	Heike Drechsler	GDR	22/9/1985	Berlin (Ost)	World Cup Test
7.27	Anișoara Cușmir-Stanciu	ROU	4/6/1983	Bucuresti	International Romanian Championships
7.43	Anișoara Cușmir-Stanciu	ROU	4/6/1983	Bucuresti	International Romanian Championships
7.21	Anișoara Cușmir-Stanciu	ROU	15/5/1983	Bucuresti	International Match ROM-RSFSR-BUL
7.15	Anișoara Cușmir-Stanciu	ROU	1/8/1982	Bucuresti	Romanian Championships
7.20	Valeria (Vali) Ionescu	ROU	1/8/1982	Bucuresti	Romanian Championships
7.09	Vilhelmina (Vilma) Bardauskienė	URS	29/8/1978	Praha	European Championships
7.07	Vilhelmina (Vilma) Bardauskienė	URS	18/8/1978	Kishinyov74	Jumpers Day
6.99	Sigrun Siegl	GDR	19/5/1976	Dresden	Olympic Day
6.92	Angela Voigt	GDR	9/5/1976	Dresden	GDR Club Cup
6.84	Heidemarie (Heide) Rosendahl	FRG	3/9/1970	Torino	Universiade
6.82	Viorica Viscopoleanu	ROU	14/10/1968	Ciudad de M?xico	The XIX Olympic Games
6.76	Mary Rand	GBR	14/10/1964	Tokyo	The XVIII Olympic Games
6.70	Tatyana Shchelkanova	URS	4/7/1964	Moskva	Znamenskiy Memorial
6.53	Tatyana Shchelkanova	URS	10/6/1962	Leipzig	International Meeting
6.48	Tatyana Shchelkanova	URS	16/7/1961	Moskva	International Match URS-USA
6.42	Hildrun Claus-Laufer	GDR	23/6/1961	Berlin (Ost)	International Match GDR-RSFSR
6.40	Hildrun Claus-Laufer	GDR	7/8/1960	Erfurt	All German Olympic Qualification
6.35	Elżbieta Maria Krzesińska	POL	27/11/1956	Melbourne	The XVI Olympic Games
6.35	Elżbieta Maria Krzesińska	POL	20/8/1956	Budapest	International Meeting
6.31	Galina Vinogradova-Popova	URS	18/11/1955	Tbilisi	Soviet Championships
6.28	Galina Vinogradova-Popova	URS	11/9/1955	Moskva	URS-GBR Int. Match
6.28	Yvette Williams	NZL	20/2/1954	Gisborne	National Meeting
6.25	Francina (Fanny) Blankers-Koen	NED	19/9/1943	Leiden	National Meeting
6.12	Christel Schulz	GER	30/7/1939	Berlin	ISTAF Berlin
5.98	Kinue Hitomi	JPN	20/5/1928	Osaka	Japanese Championships	First record ratified by the IAAF
5.575	Muriel Gunn	GBR	1/8/1927	London	London British Games
5.50	Kinue Hitomi	JPN	28/8/1926	Göteborg	Women's World Games
5.485	Muriel Gunn	GBR	2/8/1926	London	London British Games
5.30	Marie II Mejzlíková	TCH	23/9/1923	Praha	Women's Championships of Middle Bohemia under the aegis of the TCH Handball federation
5.16	Marie II Mejzlíková	TCH	6/8/1922	Praha	Women's Meeting	later Majerová

See also: [Women’s Triple Jump WR Progression][Men’s Long Jump WR Progression]