LONDON -- Rogers High School graduate Erik Kynard will begin his quest toward a men's high jump medal today at Olympic Stadium.
The event begins at 2:05 p.m., and NBCOlympics.com will begin an online broadcast of qualifying at 1:55 p.m. Kynard is one of 35 medal hopefuls, and he will compete in Group A with 17 others.
The Olympics use meters instead of feet, so Kynard enters with a season best 2.34 meters, or 7 feet, 8 inches.
The top qualifier in the Games is Ivan Ukhov of Russia with a leap of 7-10 this season (2.39m).
Athletes start with a qualifying round. Jumping in turn, each athlete attempts to achieve the qualifying height. If they fail at three jumps in a row, they are eliminated. After a successful jump, they receive three more attempts to achieve the next height. Once all jumps have been completed, all athletes who have achieved the qualifying height go through to the final. If fewer than 12 athletes achieve the qualifying standard, the best 12 athletes go through.
Qualifying is today, and the finals begin at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
First Published August 5, 2012, 4:57 a.m.
