Objective This study analysed the evolution of high jump and long jump performance by male and female athletes across age categories (under-14 to senior) over a longitudinal period. Methods A total of 11,307 performances, including 2,953 female and 2,860 male high jump marks, and 2,755 performances from female athletes and 2,739 performances from male athletes in the long jump, were analysed. Data were extracted from the top 25 Spanish national rankings across six age categories (under-14, under-16, under-18, under-20, under-23, and senior) between the 2004 and 2022 seasons. A two-way ANOVA examined the effects of sex, category, and their interaction (sex*×*category). Results Significant differences were observed between age categories (p*<*0.001), sex (p*<*0.001), and their interaction (p*<*0.001) in both disciplines. Male athletes consistently outperformed female athletes, with the largest discrepancies in under-23. Performance improved with age, especially during adolescence, with male athletes improving nearly twice as much as female athletes. Long jump showed slightly greater improvements than high jump. Conclusion Results highlight the need for tailored athlete-development programmes to reduce the sex performance gap. These findings provide valuable insights for optimising training strategies, with future research focusing on psychological, physiological, and anthropometric factors.
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