What happens to your motion due to inertia when you leave the ground while jumping?

When you leave the ground while jumping, your body’s motion reflects the principle of inertia, which is described by Newton's first law of motion. This law states that an object in motion will remain in motion at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force.

In the moment after your feet leave the ground, there are no forces acting on your body to change your horizontal motion—if you were moving forward before jumping, you will continue to move forward horizontally at that same speed. The upward force of your jump propels you into the air, but in the absence of additional forces, your horizontal velocity remains unchanged. Gravity will eventually act on you, pulling you back down, but during the initial phase of your jump, you maintain the speed at which you left the ground.

This understanding of inertia illustrates that while gravity will pull you back down, the horizontal component of your velocity is maintained until you land. It’s this concept that confirms the correctness of the selected answer, which highlights that your body will continue moving at the speed you had just before leaving the ground.