Bucks County teen sets US records at Jump Rope National Championship
· Yahoo Sports
A young New Hope jump rope athlete is making leaps and bounds in his sport.
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Last month, 17-year-old Zach Peckman returned to the 2026 American Jump Rope National Championship, which took place June 17–20 at Buffalo State University in Buffalo, New York.
Representing Doylestown’s Zero Gravity Jump Rope Team, he defended his title of grand national champion and set three U.S. records in the three-minute single rope speed endurance event, the 30-second single rope speed sprint and the mixed double-under relay with mixed-relay partner Erika Ebersole of Maryland.
“Mastering the ability to synchronize each jump and breathe to the cadence of a song’s beat, especially in an event like 3-Minute Speed, helps me maintain my pace, conserve energy, and distracts me from the pain of going all out for three grueling minutes,” Peckman said in a press release.
“I chose the song 'Footloose' to train to this year because it’s a great, high-energy song with a fast, steady beat. I sped the song up a little on my computer, so I knew that I’d be jumping at a record-setting pace.”
Peckman — who has been competing in the sport since he was in fourth grade when he joined the Bungee Jumpers in Doylestown before later joining the Zero Gravity team in seventh grade — traveled last summer to Kawasaki, Japan to represent the best of American jump rope at the World Jump Rope Championships, a biannual tournament where he competed in all speed-based events.
He said he hopes to return to the World Championships in 2027 in Oslofjord, Norway, and to one day represent the U.S. at the Olympics, should jump rope be added in the future.
Reporter Michele Haddon covers local news, small business, food and drink, economic revitalization, art and culture for The Intelligencer and Bucks County Courier Times at PhillyBurbs.com. Please consider supporting local journalism with a subscription.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County teen sets US records at Jump Rope National Championship