WCH Tokyo 25 facts and figures: men's high jump

Last three sets of World Athletics Championships medallists

Last two sets of Olympic medallists

2024: 1 Hamish Kerr (NZL) – 2.36m, 2 Shelby McEwen (USA) – 2.36m, 3 Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) – 2.34m
2020: 1 Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) – 2.37m, 1 Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA) – 2.37m, 3 Maksim Nedasekau (BLR) – 2.37m

Highest winning jumps in World Championships history

Bogdan Bondarenko (UKR) – 2.41m (2013)
Javier Sotomayor (CUB) – 2.40m (1993)
Patrik Sjöberg (SWE) – 2.38m (1987)
Charles Austin (USA) – 2.38m (1991)

Lowest winning jump in World Athletics Championships history

Gennadiy Avdyeyenko (URS/UKR) – 2.32m (1983)
Yuriy Krymarenko (UKR) – 2.32m (2005)
Yaroslav Rybakov (RUS) – 2.32m (2009)

Best marks on Japanese soil

2.41m 1 Igor Paklin (URS/KGZ) - Kobe 04.09.1985
2.40m 1 Bohdan Bondarenko (UKR) - Tokyo 11.05.2014
2.38m 1 Charles Austin (USA) - Tokyo (World Championships) 01.09.1991

Best marks on Asian soil

2.41m 1 Igor Paklin (URS/KGZ) - Kobe 04.09.1985
2.40m 1 Bohdan Bondarenko (UKR) - Tokyo 11.05.2014
2.40m 1 Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) - Doha 04.05.2018

Biggest winning margins

0.03m – 1993: Javier Sotomayor (CUB) – 2.40m, Artur Partyka (POL) – 2.37m
0.03m – 2001: Martin Buss (GER) – 2.36m, Yaroslav Rybakov (RUS) – 2.33m
0.03m – 2003: Jacques Freitag (RSA) – 2.35m, Stefan Holm (SWE) – 2.32m
0.03m – 2005: Yuriy Krymarenko (UKR) – 2.32m, Victor Moya (CUB) – 2.29m
0.03m – 2013: Bogdan Bondarenko (UKR) – 2.41m, Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) – 2.38m
0.03m – 2017: Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) – 2.35m, Danil Lysenko (ANA/RUS) – 2.32m 

​​Smallest winning margins

0.00m – 1983: Gennadiy Avdyeyenko (URS/UKR) – 2.32m, Tyke Peacock (USA) – 2.32m
0.00m – 1987: Patrik Sjöberg (SWE) – 2.38m, Igor Paklin (URS) – 2.38m
0.00m – 1995: Troy Kemp (BAH) – 2.37m, Javier Sotomayor (CUB) – 2.37m
0.00m – 2007: Donald Thomas (BAH) – 2.35m, Yaroslav Rybakov (RUS) – 2.35m
0.00m – 2009: Yaroslav Rybakov (RUS) – 2.32m, Kyriakos Ioannou (CYP) – 2.32m
0.00m – 2011: Jesse Williams (USA) – 2.35m, Aleksey Dmitrik (RUS) – 2.35m
0.00m – 2023: Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA) – 2.36m, Ju’Vaughn Harrison (USA) – 2.36m

Best mark by round

Qualification - 2.31m (25 athletes)
Final - 2.41m Bogdan Bondarenko (UKR), 2013

Multiple winners

1993/97 - Javier Sotomayor (CUB)
2017/19/22 - Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT)

Winners by country

3 - Qatar
2 - Cuba
2 - United States
2 - Bahamas
2 - Ukraine
2 - Russia
1 - Soviet Union
1 - Sweden
1 - Germany
1 - South Africa
1 - Canada
1 - Italy

Five historic facts

• Javier Sotomayor (CUB) became the first athlete to clear 2.40m at the World Championships in 1993 in Stuttgart. His championship record lasted until 2013 when Bogdan Bondarenko (UKR) cleared 2.41m in Moscow 
• For the only time in World Championships history, there was a three-way jump-off for the title in 2015. Derek Drouin (CAN) won the title with a 2.34m clearance ahead of Zhang Guowei (CHN) and Bondarenko
• With five medals (three gold, one silver, one bronze) Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) is the most successful athlete in the men’s high jump in World Championships history
• At 31y/82d, Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA) became the event’s oldest world champion in Budapest 2013 
• Inaugural champion Gennady Avdyeyenko (URS/UKR) remains the event’s youngest winner at 19y/282d

​​Potential storylines

• Will Japan win their first medal in the men’s high jump in World Championships history? Yuto Seko (JPN) is equal third on the entry-list with 2.33m
• Can Czechia (CZE) win their first medal in the men’s high jump in World Championships history? Czech athletes have finished 4-5-5-5 in this event in previous World Championships 
• Can Oleh Doroshchuk (UKR) become the fourth Ukrainian to win the men’s high jump title? Yuriy Krymarenko and Bondarenko won gold in 2005 and 2013 respectively while Avdyeyenko, who was representing the Soviet Union, won gold in 1983
• Can Donald Thomas (BAH) extend his record of most world high jump finals contested to six? He is competing in his 10th World Championships and is the only champion from the 2007 World Championships in Osaka to be competing in Tokyo
• Mutaz Essa Barshim, who won joint Olympic gold alongside Gianmarco Tamberi in Tokyo, pulled out on the eve of the champonships with a foot injury. "I've been battling with a very serious injury since April and the reason why I didn't make a public statement is because I have a hard time with people pitying me," he wrote on Instagram.  
• The automatic qualifying height for the final is 2.30m