Yuriy Krymarenko will not get to defend his World title, after the 24-year-old Ukrainian crashed out of qualifying this morning.

He was bitterly disappointed, but the surprise winner in Helsinki two years ago was not able to rise to the occasion here, nor was he prepared to reveal quite why he found the qualifying height of 2.29 impossible to achieve, after he scraped over 2.26 at the third attempt.

“I do not want to speak about the reasons why I did not qualify,” said Krymarenko, who has been in indifferent form throughout the season. “It is not a tragedy, life goes on, but maybe my illness during my training camp in Seoul was part of today’s bad result.”

In all, 15 men will contest the final, though they will not include Russia‘s World Indoor silver medallist, Andrey Tereshin, who, despite a season’s best of 2.34, today failed at 2.26, or any of the three American entries, with US champion Jim Dilling managing only 2.19 (and that at the third attempt).

Also out is 36-year-old Dragutin Topic, a World Junior champion in 1990 and here competing at the World Championships for a seventh time. The old legs did not co-operate this time, though, and after one fail at 2.23, the Serb failed twice more at 2.26.

One of those going through is Kabelo Kgosiemang, the first Botswanan ever to qualify for a World Championships final outdoors. “Everything came right with my third attempt,” he said, after acknowledging the support of the morning crowd, who greeted the 21-year-old African champion’s feat with enthusiastic delight.

It has been eight years since Britain last had a finallist in the men’s High Jump at these championships and now, like London buses, two have come along together. Martyn Bernard and Tom Parsons both set PBs to clear 2.29.

Osaka 2007 News Team/sd