Andrey Silnov jumps his way into the men's Olympic high jump final (© Getty Images)
The IAAF Technical Delegates had set the standard very high in the men’s High Jump in an effort not to face a potential final with more than the required 12 jumpers and indeed their move proved right.
2.32m, a height only seven men have cleared so far this year, was required to automatically advance to Tuesday’s final but the bar never even reached that height.
With only eight sailing over 2.29m the four remaining qualifying positions were going to be split among the 12 who had cleared the next best height 2.25m. Those who had gone over at their second and third try didn’t stand a chance, and even a first time clearance didn’t prove enough!
The USA’s Andra Manson was the unlucky guy, as he paid the high price for his first round miss at 2.15m and 2.20m. Indeed the last to make it through was Great Britain’s Tom Parsons who cleared 2.25m first time and 2.20m second time, like Mason, but he only needed one go at 2.15m and that is what saved him.
Ironically he was only the third best Brit this evening as compatriots Martyn Bernard and Germaine Mason both made the cut with 2.29m clearances while Manson was the best of the Americans as neither him nor team-mates Jesse Williams and Dusty Jonas, the third best in the world this year, qualified.
Others to qualify at 2.25m included World championships silver medallist Yaroslav Rybakov, Filippo Campioni of Italy and Rozle Prezelj who completed a superb night for Slovenia after the nation’s gold in the men’s hammer and a national record in the women’s triple.
Of the seven athletes who had gone over the qualifying standard 2.32m earlier this season, only three will actually compete in the final. Defending Olympic champion Stefan Holm and World leader Andrey Silnov had identical contests tonight, both failing first time at 2.29m but both largely clearing the second time around. The third man was Rybakov who had three failures at 2.29m but his clean sheet before that was enough for the night.
Those three are expected to fight it hard and it could well be that Charles Austin Olympic record 2.39m may be in jeopardy.
Top three qualifiers with a clean sheet included the two Czechs, Jaroslav Baba and Tomas Janku and Brazil’s Jesse de Lima. Germany’s Raul-Roland Spank completes the list of finalists as some top guns failed to rise to the occasion.
First in line was World champion Donald Thomas who had three appalling failures at 2.25m. The Bahamian winner of the IAAF Newcomer of the Year award last year never recovered his best shape after an ankle injury meant he couldn’t train properly for most of the pre-summer season.
Thomas was one of two medallists from last year’s World Championships final not to qualify as bronze medal winner Kyriakos Ioannou of Cyprus failed three times at 2.29m, and once at each of the three heights he attempted previously.
The two-time African champion Kabelo Kgosiemang was a shadow of the athlete who set a 2.34m Botswana national record in early May, his best of the night being a third time clearance at 2.20m.
Former World champion Vyacheslav Voronin, former European champion Dragutin Topic, Sweden’s number two Linus Thornblad and France’s Mickael Hanany , seventh in the world this year, were among the notorious non qualifiers.
The first casualty of the evening was former World Youth and Junior champion Haiqiang Huang who had set an incredible 2.32m two years ago when the World age category championships were held here in Beijing. At the time Huang was regarded as China’s next big chance of an Olympic medal in the men’s High Jump but the 20-year-old had only recorded 2.10m earlier this year and despite the loud roar of the full capacity crowd when he failed his third attempt at the opening 2.10m, his elimination was somewhat expected.
Laura Arcoleo for the IAAF
