Sandra Perkovic in the discus at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (© AFP / Getty Images)
Eight different women bettered the automatic qualifying standard of 62.00m in the discus across two groups this evening, led by Cuba’s 2010 world U20 champion Yaime Perez with 65.38m.
Four more women – in fact, all those who threw beyond 60 metres – will also advance to make a field of 12 for the final.
The first group endured a rain delay after a deluge descended following the first round of throwing. Only seven of the 17 throwers managed a legal mark in the rainy first round and the downpour which held up the men’s pole vault final and 110m hurdles qualifying also paused the discus for half an hour and consequently also delayed the start of group B.
Nonetheless, four women qualified automatically.
Feng Bin of China reached 62.01m in the second round, and then three more women made it on the third round, including both defending champion Sandra Perkovic and world champion Denia Caballero, who both endured some nervous moments after fouls on their first two attempts before showing their competitive mettle.
Perkovic at 64.81m had the best mark from group A.
Group B proceeded more uneventfully, in drier conditions later in the evening, with four more throwers getting automatic marks on their first attempts, led by Perez.
However, Germany’s European silver and bronze medallists Julia Fischer and Shanice Craft only made it through to Tuesday’s final as non-automatic qualifiers.
Perhaps the biggest casualty was Great Britain’s Jade Lally, who has thrown 65.10m this year but could not throw within 10 metres of that mark on Monday.
Parker Morse for the IAAF
