Three Kiwi athletes have been left marvelling at the power of the countback in Olympic qualifying — two pole vaulters celebrating their good fortune, but discus thrower Connor Bell ruing his ill luck.
New Zealand will have three vaulters in the women's final later this week, after Eliza McCartney, Olivia McTaggart and Imogen Ayris all snuck into the bumper field of 20 athletes.
Meanwhile, on the Stade de France infield, Bell was edged out of the men's discus final on a countback of second-best throws.
Among the pre-event medal favourites, McCartney earned her spot in the vault final with a clearance at 4.55m, but when only 11 athletes achieved that height, nine others joined them, after clearing 4.40m at their first attempt.
The Rio 2016 bronze medallist joins two teammates in the final (Source: SKY)
That freak result allowed another life for McTaggart and Ayris, who probably thought their Games were over.
The two qualifying groups claimed several high-profile victims, including 2024 world leader Molly Caudery, British teammate and Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw and US trials winner Bridget Williams.
On different runways, McTaggart and Ayris both made first-time clearances at 4.20m and 4.40m, before three failures at 4.55m. McCartney entered at 4.40m and missed her first try at 4.55m, before clearing on her second try.
"Really good, really happy with how my body was feeling," said the Rio 2016 bronze medallist. "I think I made some good decisions out there and I'm feeling really in control.
"I was definitely expecting to need 4.70m today, but a short qualifier is probably better. We can just save ourselves and be ready for a final."
McTaggart and Ayris well left barely believing their luck.
Eliza McCartney in Olympic pole vault qualifying. (Source: Associated Press)
"When the last girl missed, I knew there were a lot of us tied," said Ayris. "When I looked up in the stands at my coach standing with his arms in the air, I knew we'd done it."
Said McTaggart: "Such mixed emotions. Today I didn't think I was jumping my best, so I was still a little bit disappointed and I didn't think that would make the final, but it did.
"I'm going to put absolutely everything into that opportunity and squeeze everything out of it."
The bigger-than-usual field will present some challenges for the athletes, with warmup and start times brought forward, and potentially longer waits between attempts.
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Bell could only reflect on what might have been, after throwing 62.88m with his best effort and 59.76m with his next best. Entering the final round, he sat 11th, with the top 12 progressing. Samoan Alex Rose also had 62.88m and shunted Bell to 12th, when he tossed 60.94m with his last attempt.
Bell fouled and then fell to 13th, when Romanian Alexandru Firfirica improved to 63.66m.
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