The Men’s high jump title at the Tokyo Olympics is up for grabs. Reigning champ Derek Drouin of Canada is out but there and there will be plenty hoping to make their mark. Here’s our Men’s High Jump preview for Tokyo.
Schedule
Friday 30 July 01:15 (Heats) Sunday 1 August 11:10 UK Time (Final)
2021 Top Jumps
| 2021 Rankings | Height (m) | Athlete | Country |
| 1 | 2.37 | Ilya Ivanyuk | Authorised Neutral Athlete |
| 1 | 2.37 | Maksim Nedasekau | Belarus |
| 3 | 2.36 | JuVaughn Harrison | USA |
| 4 | 2.33 | Loïc Gasch | Switzerland |
| 4 | 2.33 | Darryl Sullivan Jr. | USA |
| 4 | 2.33 | Shelby McEwen | USA |
| 4 | 2.33 | Brandon Starc | Australia |
| 4 | 2.33 | Gianmarco Tamberi | Italy |
| 4 | 2.33 | Mikhail Akimenko | Authorised Neutral Athlete |
| 4 | 2.33 | Django Lovett | Canada |
British interest
Tom Gale is GB’s & NI’s sole entrant in the high jump in Tokyo and jumped 2.33 last year. If he can get towards that he may well find himself in the final.
The favourites
In 2019 you’d be hard pushed to look past Mutaz Essa Barshim. The London and Rio silver medalist, he had just won his second consecutive World Championship title. Times look like they may have changed with Barshim not competing once in 2020 and so far only clearing 2.30 in 2021. Ofcourse Tokyo has always been the goal but he’s making his Qatari fans sweat. On his day few can compete with his 2.43m best. Belarus’s Nedaskau appears the heir apparent alongside Ilya Ivanyuk both having jumped personal bests this year with the former winning the European Indoor title earlier this year.
JuVaughn Harrison will be the one to watch, posting world class jumps in both the long jump and this event. He is still a very raw prospect at 21 but US fans will have genuine aspirations of a potential gold. Gianluca Tamberi is a fan favourite and will have eyes on a medal as will Brandon Starc, brother of australian cricketer Mitchell.
Our medal predictions
- Maksim Nedeskau
- Mutaz Essa Barshim
- JuVaughn Harrison
Records
WR: 2.45m Javier Sotomayor (1993)
OR: 2.39m Charles Austin (1996 Atlanta)
Featured image “588 barshim poging 2m36” by babbo1957 is licensed under CC BY 2.0
