Robbie Grabarz at the IAAF World Championships London 2017 (© Getty Images)
Six men topped the automatic qualifying height of 2.31m to move on to Sunday's final in the high jump, led by the heavy favourite Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar.
Producing the round's only unblemished scorecard, Barshim's morning work seemed remarkable in its routine. The 26-year-old, who arrived in London unbeaten this year in six competitions, sailed over 2.22m, 2.26m, 2.29m and 2.31m all with his first attempt before retiring for the day and fixing his focus on the final where he'll be gunning for his first world outdoor title.
Also moving on nearly unscathed were Bohdan Bondarenko, Ukraine's 2013 world champion, and neutral athlete Danil Lysenko. Bondarenko took four jumps, topping 2.22m on his first go, 2.29m with a second and 2.31m again with his first. The 20-year-old Lysenko entered the competition at 2.17m and sailed clear through 2.29m with a clean sheet before topping 2.31m with his second attempt.
Others topping the automatic qualifier were German champion Mateusz Przybylko, Bulgarian Tihomir Ivanov and Briton Robbie Grabarz, a personal best and season's best, respectively, for the latter two. Grabarz shared Olympic bronze at this stadium five years ago.
Countback determined the rest to advance. Majd Eddin Ghazal of Syria, neutral athlete Ilya Ivanyuk and Bryan McBride of the US didn't miss until topping out at 2.31m. They'll be joined by Germany's Eike Onnen, Edgar Rivera of Mexico and China's Wang Yu.
Notable among the non-qualifiers is Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi whose comeback effort from injury and a pair of surgeries ran out of time. His consolation? A season's best of 2.29m.
Erik Kynard of the US, who jumped to Olympic silver here five years ago, was forced by Achilles and hamstring issue to end his competition after just one jump.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
