A number of well-known athletes failed to advance past qualifying, including reigning world champion Nina Kennedy, who easily advanced to the Olympic pole vault final.
Kennedy, who finished first on the podium in the previous year’s world titles alongside American Katie Moon, only had to vault once to secure her place in the Wednesday night final. Her first-up clearances came at 4.40 and 4.55 meters.
Moon and Kennedy tied for first place in the qualifying round along with six other vaulters.
However, Molly Caudery, the current world indoor champion, crashed out without clearing a single height, and Holly Bradshaw, another British competitor, was unable to progress.
Matt Denny, an Australian colleague, exuded confidence and looked like a future Olympic medallist as he confidently advanced to the men’s discus final in Paris.
Though it was far from flawless, Denny’s second throw on Monday morning of 66.83 meters was well over the automatic qualifying standard.
The 28-year-old Queenslander has been getting closer and closer to his first global medal in recent years, placing fourth at the most recent three world championships and sixth, sixth, and fourth at the Tokyo Olympics.
His words, “I’m in really good shape,”
“Though it wasn’t the smoothest throw, qualifying is currently a bit of a different animal for everyone.”
“Compared to the final, there are significantly more expectations in that phase of the process.
There are numerous factors at play there because it could be all over after three throws.
“Good to get it done and do it quickly and quite easily.”
Olympic newcomer Alanah Yukich tied for second place in her repechage race with a personal best time of 55.11, narrowly missing out on qualifying for the 400m hurdles semi-finals.
Even though Sarah Carli, an Australian, finished one hundredth of a second behind Yukich, she was eliminated.
