Blanka Vlasic wasted little effort in sailing through this qualifying competition this morning. The Croatian, who has dominated the Women's High Jump this year, took just three jumps, one at 1.84 to warm up, one at 1.91 to get her measure, and one at 1.94 to qualify.
Vlasic leads the world with a best of 2.07 from the DN Galan in Stockholm, her fourth national record of the season, and she remains the overwhelming favourite to win gold here.
The defending champion Kajsa Bergqvist will have other ideas, of course. The Swede had a perfect record from 1.84 to 1.94, as did Anna Chicherova, the Russian champion and her team mate Yelena Slesarenko, the only woman to have beaten Vlasic this year.
As the athletes began to struggle at 1.91 it seemed for a while that they may not need to jump 1.94, the height needed to make the final. But in the end, 18 had a shot at the qualifying height, and 16 eventually went through, suggesting the officials had set the standard too low on a year when seven women have leapt above 2.00, and 19 jumped 1.95 or higher.
Italian record-holder Antoinetta Di Martino, lying second in the world this year, was one of them, although she had a fail at 1.88, and failed first time at 1.94, while the European champion, Tia Hellbaut, the bespectacled Belgian, had two fails at 1.91 before taking two to clear the qualifying height.
Six-times US champion Amy Acuff had even more problems rising to the occasion in Japan, failing once at 1.84, 1.88 and 1.91. She finally scrambled clear at 1.94 first time, seemingly uninspired in a virtually empty Nagai Stadium.
The tiny crowd did its best to rouse Miyuki Aoyama, the home nation’s national champion. She even had a small army of personal fans who draped a banner displaying with name over the seats behind her.
It was soon looking rather bedraggled, however, as the pressure proved all too much for the 30-year-old former Asian indoor champion, and she was the first jumper to go out. She failed three times at 1.88 – 4cm below her best – adding another sad footnote to the story of Japan’s disappointing championships.
The Canadian champion Nicole Forrester was even more below par. She also went out at 1.88, 9cm below her best a performance.
It was a better morning for Levern Spencer who equalled her own St Lucian record to become the tiny Caribbean island’s first World Championships finallist.
Otherwise, there were no major casualties and the world’s best high jumpers left just before the rain dampened things even further to prepare for a rather crowded final on Sunday.
Osaka 2007 News Team/mkb
