| Event: | Men's triple jump |
| Games: | 1979 |
| Venue: | Estadio Sixto Escobar |
| Dates: | 9 July |
| Win Value: | 17.27 |
| Win Label: | Winning distance |
| Gold: | João Carlos de Oliveira |
| Goldnoc: | BRA |
| Silver: | Willie Banks |
| Silvernoc: | USA |
| Bronze: | James Butts |
| Bronzenoc: | USA |
| Prev: | 1975 |
| Next: | 1983 |
The men's triple jump competition of the athletics events at the 1979 Pan American Games took place on 9 July at the Estadio Sixto Escobar.[1] [2] The defending Pan American Games champion was João Carlos de Oliveira of Brazil.
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Pan American Games records were as follows:
| World record | 17.89 | Mexico City, Mexico City | October 15, 1975 | |
| Pan American Games record |
All distances shown are in meters.[3]
| KEY: | WR | World Record | GR | Pan American Record |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Distance | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| João Carlos de Oliveira | 17.27 | ||||
| Willie Banks | 16.88 | ||||
| James Butts | 16.69 | ||||
| Alejandro Herrera | 16.46 | ||||
| Carmelo Martínez | 16.28 | ||||
| Francisco de Oliveira | 15.93 | ||||
| Wilfredo Almonte | 15.69 | ||||
| Ernesto Torres | 15.06 | ||||
| José Mangual | 15.04 | ||||
| 10 | Maxwell Peters | 13.97 | |||
| Stephen Hanna | |||||
| Ronald Chambers | |||||
| Edgar Moreno | |||||
| José Salazar |