A very low key competition saw only one athlete, the German Sophie Krauel, achieve the automatic qualifying mark with 6.59 in the second round, just 3cm off her personal best, after opening her account with a foul. Hanna Demydova of Ukraine, jumping into a wind of -0.5 m/s, cleared 6.12 to finish behind Krauel in Group A.
Australia’s Jacinta Boyd cleared 6.07 to finish third, and will be joined in the final by her team mate Naomi Bligh, who managed 6.03 in Group B, jumping into a -1.2 m/s wind. The biggest surprise came when Yudelkis Fernandez of Cuba, who has jumped 6.74 in 2004, could only scrape into the final with a best this morning of 6.04 as did Michelle Sanford of the USA who managed just 5.98 – 38 centimetres off her personal best.
The Grosseto crowd reserved a special cheer for Italy’s Tania Vincenzino who finished third in Group B with a personal best of 6.18, behind Inna Kazantseva (RUS) who jumped 6.21 and the Czech Denisa Scerbova, who cut the sand at 6.34 to confirm her status as one of the favourites for this title. A second German, Anika Leipold, made the final after jumping 6.09, as did another American Amy Menlove, with 6.06. Veronika Shutkova of Belarus was the final qualifier from the second group with a season’s best of 6.03.
