Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the long jump at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Sopot (© Getty Images)
If the qualifying round is anything to go by, then tomorrow’s women’s long jump final should be a thrilling contest between Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic and Russia’s Darya Klishina.
Spanovic, the world bronze medallist, progressed with the furthest distance of the day, leaping 6.77m on her first attempt while Klishina – the two-time European indoor champion – registered a 6.76m season’s best also on her first jump.
With 23-year-old Spanovic having flown to 6.92m this winter, the Olympic finalist will be keen to capture her first major championship title since taking the 2008 world junior crown.
Klishina was not in that event, but the pair have a long-standing rivalry which stretches back to the 2007 IAAF World Youth Championships when Klishina finished first and Spanovic had to settle for the silver medal
Great Britain’s world indoor bronze medallist Shara Proctor narrowly missed the 6.70m automatic qualifying mark but her 6.69m leap was good enough to see her through as the third-best qualifier.
The home crowd were pleased to see Poland’s 2009 world finalist Teresa Dobija progress to the final courtesy of a 6.63m jump.
World junior champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who finished fifth in the 2013 World Championships heptathlon and who had her sights set on competing in the pentathlon until illness scuppered her qualification bid at the Dutch championships last month, found 6.60m enough to make the final.
The big surprise was that the USA’s Tori Bowie, who leapt 6.95m this winter and was second on the 2014 lists, could do no better than 6.12m and finished 13th and last in the qualification round.
Nicola Bamford for the IAAF
