By Mitch Phillips
EUGENE, Ore. (Reuters) – Australian Eleanor Patterson picked the perfect time to produce her lifetime best leap as she cleared an Oceania record of 2.02 metres to win a surprise World Championship high jump gold on Tuesday.
Patterson failed twice at 1.98, once at her previous best of 2.00 but cleared 2.02 at the first attempt, giving her gold on countback ahead of Ukrainian favourite Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who needed two tries to get over the same height.
Italy’s Elena Vallortigara was error-free up to matching her personal best of 2 metres but though she could not go any further she took bronze on countback.
Olympic and multiple world champion Mariya Lasitskene was absent because of the ban on Russian athletes in Eugene.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Christian Schmollinger)
