It was some morning in the Bird’s Nest Stadium for Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic in what has been quite a year.
Back in Moscow in 2013, Spanovic announced herself on the world stage when she won long jump bronze, a foundation which took her to silver at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich last summer and then gold at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Prague in March.
But if qualifying at these IAAF World Championships in Beijing is supposed to be about ensuring your place in the final, Spanovic did more than just that - she put down a real marker for the rest with a sensational national record of 6.91m with her first jump.
Not only was it 16 centimetres more than she would have needed to make it through, it suggests she must have even more in store for the final if she can show this type of form now as she extended the previous record by three centimetres.
It should be some final tomorrow as her opposition includes Great Britain’s best ever three jumpers.
After her disappointment in scoring no points from the heptathlon’s long jump on Sunday, which ruined her medal chances, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who has an outdoor personal best of 6.93m, qualified for the final with a second round 6.79m.
Shara Proctor, the national record-holder (6.98m), made it through with 6.68m and the best of the Britons was Lorraine Ugen who finished second overall behind Spanovic with 6.87m.
Malachowski waits until last
Twice a world silver medallist, Poland’s Piotr Malachowski needed the last of his three throws in qualifying to book a place in Saturday’s discus final.
Having began with a foul and then recording a distance of 59.08m, in a competition where 65m was the standard, Malachowski, the 2010 European champion, reached an impressive 65.59m for second best overall behind Jamaica’s Fedrick Dacres (65.77m).
Just behind Malachowski from the two groups was Estonia’s Gerd Kanter - and what a story it could be if he makes the podium again seven years after winning the Olympic title in Beijing.
He qualified with the best throw in Group B (64.78m) while Cyprus’s Apostolos Parellis (64.41m) and Poland’s Robert Urbanek (64.23m) also progressed.
Austria’s Jennifer Wenth (15:43.57), Netherlands’ Susan Kuijken (15:25.67) and Britain’s Steph Twell (15:34.72) reached the 5000m final while Türkiye’s Ilham Tanui Ozbilen (3:38.28) was the quickest European into the semi-finals of the 1500m.
In the 100m hurdles, Britain’s European champion Tiffany Porter (12.73) won her heat and her sister, Cindy Ofili (12.97) also made it through.
Of the 13 women into Saturday’s high jump final, eight are from Europe and it should be some competition.
The height of 1.92m was enough to progress with Russia’s Anna Chicherova and Mariya Kuchina, Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic and Spain’s Ruth Beitia among those achieving it.