Brittney Reese in the long jump at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (© Getty Images)
For USA’s Brittney Reese and Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic, the qualifying round of the women’s long jump was simply a formality.
They needed just one jump each to achieve the automatic qualifying mark of 6.75m, defending champion Reese leaping 6.78m and Spanovic sailing out to 6.87m, the best mark of the day. They then packed their bags and left the long jump area while most of the rest of the athletes were chasing the qualifying standard.
Germany’s Malaika Mihambo was the only other woman to achieve the mark. The European bronze medallist produced a season’s best of 6.82m with her second jump to safely make it through.
USA’s world champion Tianna Bartoletta also progressed. After failing to make the final in the 100m, the 30-year-old will have another chance of earning her first individual Olympic medal in tomorrow’s final.
World indoor bronze medallist Lorraine Ugen was the top British qualifier, leaping 6.65m, while teammate Jazmin Sawyers, the European silver medallist, was the last athlete to squeak into the final, jumping 6.53m.
But Britain’s world silver medallist Shara Proctor was some way short of her best and finished 21st overall with 6.36m and will take no further part.
Estonia’s 2009 European indoor champion Ksenija Balta jumped 6.71m to advance, while Nigeria’s Ese Brume and Russia’s Darya Klishina made it through to the final with respective marks of 6.67m and 6.64m.
Australian record-holder Brooke Stratton jumped 6.56m to make it into her first outdoor global championships final. Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh and Germany’s Sosthene Moguenara, recovering from an ankle injury, both made it through with leaps of 6.55m.
Proctor wasn’t the only notable casualty of the round, though. USA’s Olympic bronze medallist Janay DeLoach just missed out by three centimetres, while Germany’s Alexandra Wester, who jumped 6.95m indoors earlier this year, could not make it beyond six metres.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
