Olympic champion, Chioma Ajunwa of Nigeria produced the longest jump of the qualifying round, and the longest jump of the year, 7.01, on her second attempt to take her into the final on Saturday. She was the best of only six women to exceed the automatic qualifying mark of 6.70, four from group A and two from B.
She will be joined by the 1992 Olympic champion, Heike Drechsler. The German, who was world champion in 1983 and 1993, was the first to produce a leap beyond the automatic qualifying distance, jumping 6.80 on her second attempt. It was followed immediately by Ajunwa’s effort. The world’s leading jumper this year prior to this competition, Lyudmila Galkina of Russia, also qualified automatically with 6.75 on her second attempt.
The Olympic silver medallist, Fiona May of Italy was another to qualify automatically, but only on her final attempt. She was in 11th position with eight others still to jump when she produced 6.73 to move her to joint fourth position, equal with Sharon Jaklofsky of the Netherlands. Drechsler’s teammate, Susan Tiedtke-Greene, was the other jumper to qualify automatically, with 6.72.
Two Americans struggled to qualify - Marion Jones, the recently crowned 100m champion, who scraped in at 12th place with 6.59; and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the world champion in 1987 and 1991, who qualified in equal 10th position, 6.62 her best attempt.
The world heptathlon champion, Sabine Braun of Germany, who has a long jump best of 6.76, achieved this year, did not make it to the final, managing only 6.20. She passed her third attempt.
