LONDON (Reuters) – Darya Klishina led women’s long jump qualifying with a leap of 6.66 meters in cold and wet conditions on Wednesday to reach the World Championships final.
Russian Klishina, competing as a neutral athlete, posted the longest jump on her second attempt.
The 26-year-old finished ninth at last year’s Rio Olympics after being cleared just before the Games to be the only Russian to take part in the track and field competition following the country’s ban due to widespread state-sponsored doping.
“I feel nice and calm here. It’s a good atmosphere in the stadium and there is a lot of support,” Klishina said.
“It was a little cold so I can only hope we get better weather for the final.”
World and Olympic champion Tianna Bartoletta advanced to the final in second place with 6.64 meters and her fellow American Brittney Reese, the silver medalist in Rio last year, sneaked through in ninth place out of the 12 qualifiers with 6.50.
“This weather reminds me of when I won my first world title 12 years ago in Helsinki so to be honest, I was not worried about it,” Bartoletta said.
“Maybe it was an omen. I just had that same mentality out there today as in that final.”
The final is on Friday.
(Reporting by Ed Osmond; Editing by Toby Davis)
