Christian Olsson of Sweden competes in the men's triple jump qualification in Doha (© Getty Images)
Only two athletes made the automatic standard of 16.95m in the men’s triple jump qualifying, which was of a surprisingly low quality.
Only a 16.55m result was needed for the eighth place and a spot in the final. Several former greats went out of the final too including Americans Walter Davis and Brandon Roulhac.
Christian Olsson of Sweden, the 2003 and 2004 World indoor champion, was the first one to go over 17 metres with his first attempt of 17.07m. The 30-year-old Swede is really looking good and this competition might mark his return to the absolute top of this event. The athlete to better this qualification was Cuban Yoandri Betanzos, the bronze medallist at the 2004 and 2006 World Indoor Championships, who topped the qualification with a 17.11m effort as the last jumper of round one.
But in terms of automatic qualifiers that was it. Teddy Tamgho of France had a first jump of 16.90m and a big second jump which was for some reason flagged red for a foul although his foot did not touch or go over the wax at the board. But his result was good enough for the final and third place in the qualification competition. Fourth best was Jadel Gregório of Brazil, the silver medallist at 2004 and 2006 World Indoor Championships, who jumped 16.85m and fifth world leading athlete Fabrizio Donato of Italy at 16.82m. Donato did seem unimpressed by his jumping which was far from his best.
David Giralt of Cuba also made it to the final with 16.71m and the last two athletes made it with their last attempts. In seventh place Igor Spasovkhodskiy of Russia jumped 16.57m as the last jumper of the competition and Slovak Republic’s Dmitrij Valukevic 16.55m for the eighth and last place in the final. The first athlete not to make it was Chinese Li Yanxi, the Asian record holder outdoors with 17.59m last November, who was one centimetre short with a 16.54m result in the first competition of his season following some injury problems during training.
Ukrainian Viktor Yastrebov and Greek Dimitrios Tsiamis were only one centimetre behind the Chinese with 16.53m. The American duo in the competition were disappointing with 26-year-old Brandon Roulhac reaching only 14th place with 16.36m in his second major championships, he did not qualify for the final in Berlin last summer either and Walter Davis, the 2006 World indoor champion, was right behind him in 15th place jumping 16.33m.
Additionally the French champion at 17.16m this winter, Colomba Fofana only jumped 15.95m and a 16.95m jumper this season, 21-year-old Daniele Greco of Italy jumped 15.60m to finish in 19th and last.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
