Jamaica’s Williams in Worlds triple-jump final
MOSCOW, Russia — Kimberly Williams needed just two jumps to qualify for her first ever IAAF World Championships triple jump finals after leaping 14.36m in this morning’s qualification round at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow.
The Olympic Games finalist has the fourth best mark going into Thursday’s final behind Ukraine’s Olha Saladuha (14.69m) Colombia’s Caterine Ibarguen (14.52m) and Israel’s Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko who got 14.46m on her final attempt after two fouls.
Williams failed to get past the first round in her two previous World Championships, placing eighth in her group in Berlin in 2009 and then seventh in her group in Daegu, South Korea two years ago.
She however made the breakthrough by making it to the finals in the World Indoors in Turkey last year before making it to the finals at the Olympic Games in London, placing sixth after achieving her personal best 14.53m in the first round.
–Paul Reid