Christian Taylor in the triple jump at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (© AFP / Getty Images)
Five men, led by defending champion Christian Taylor at 17.24m, advanced automatically to the men’s triple jump final from this morning’s qualifying rounds. The next-best seven jumpers were also advanced to make a field of 12 for the final.
Two of three medallists from 2012 will be in the final, gold medallist Taylor and his US teammate Will Claye, who won silver. London bronze medallist Fabrizio Donato was 17th in 16.54m and did not advance.
No fewer than 47 men began jumping, notably missing world silver medallist Pedro Pablo Pichardo of Cuba. Pichardo, who exceeded 18 metres several times in 2015, was entered but opted not to jump. Eight more jumpers recorded three fouls and thus no mark.
Taylor in group B and China’s Dong Bin and Cai Shu in group A all surpassed the automatic qualifying mark of 16.95m on their first attempts, but qualifying stagnated there through the second round. Finally in the third and last round, first Claye and then Nelson Evora exceeded the standard to join the first trio.
Troy Doris of Guyana leads the non-automatic qualifiers at 16.81m; the shortest mark to advance was 16.61m for Cuba’s Lazaro Martinez.
India’s Renjith Maheswary, third in the world this year, also did not advance, managing only 16.13m for 30th.
Parker Morse for the IAAF
