1987 World Championships in Athletics – Women's high jump explained

These are the official results of the Women's High Jump event at the 1987 IAAF World Championships in Rome, Italy. There were a total number of 24 participating athletes, with two qualifying groups and the final held on Sunday August 30, 1987.

Summary

Stefka Kostadinova came into the competition as the world record holder at 2.08m and favorite, but it was not going to be uncontested. Soviet Tamara Bykova was the defending champion and the woman Kostadinova replaced as world record holder, her Bulgarian teammate, Lyudmila Andonova was also a finalist, though she was untested following a 2-year doping suspension.

By 2.02m the rest of the competition had topped out, the last being Susanne Beyer clearing 1.99m, Bykova and Kostadinova still having a clean round. Jumping first, Bykova continued clean at 2.04m, but Kostadinova took three tries to stay alive in the competition, putting Bykova in the driver's seat. After Bykova missed a second time at 2.06m, Kostadinova cleared, taking the lead. Bykova passed to take a heroic attempt to equal the world record, 3 cm over her personal best, her only chance for the win. Bykova missed and the medals were settled.

Having nothing to gain from equalling her own world record, Kostadinova passed to . On her second attempt, she went over. Kostadinova's world record has stood until July 2024.

Medalists

Gold	Stefka Kostadinova Bulgaria (BUL)
Silver	Tamara Bykova Soviet Union (URS)
Bronze	Susanne Beyer East Germany (GDR)

Schedule

• All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Qualification Round
Group A	Group B
29.08.1987  - ??:??h	29.08.1987  - ??:??h
Final Round
30.08.1987  - 16:30h

Abbreviations

• All results shown are in metres

Q	automatic qualification
q	qualification by rank
DNS	did not start
NM	no mark
WR	world record
AR	area record
NR	national record
PB	personal best
SB	season best

Records

Standing records prior to the 1987 World Athletics Championships
		2.08 m	May 31, 1986
		2.01 m	August 9, 1983
Broken records during the 1987 World Athletics Championships
		2.09 m	August 30, 1987

Results

Qualifying round

• Held on Saturday 1987-08-29

Rank	Group	Name	Nationality	1.80	1.85	1.88	1.91	Result	Notes
1	A							1.91	q
1	A							1.91	q
1	A							1.91	q
1	A							1.91	q
1	A							1.91	q
1	A							1.91	q
7	A							1.88
7	A							1.88
7	A							1.88
7	A							1.88
11	A							1.85
	A
1	A							1.91	q
1	A							1.91	q
1	A							1.91	q
1	A							1.91	q
1	A							1.91	q
1	A							1.91	q
7	A							1.88
7	A							1.88
9	A							1.85
9	A							1.85
11	A							1.80
11	A							1.80

Final

^[1]

Rank	Name	Nationality	1.80	1.85	1.90	1.93	1.96	1.99	2.02	2.04	2.06	2.08	2.09	Result	Notes
			–	o	o	–	o	o	o	xxo	xo	–	xo	2.09	WR
			–	o	o	o	o	o	o	o	xx–	x		2.04
			o	o	o	o	o	xo	xxx					1.99
			–	o	o	o	o	xx-	x					1.96
			–	o	o	xxo	o	xx-	x					1.96
			–	o	o	o	xo	xxx						1.96
			–	o	o	o	xxx							1.93
			–	xo	o	o	xxx							1.93
			–	o	xo	o	xxx							1.93
10			o	o	o	xo	xxx							1.93
11			–	o	xo	x								1.93
12			o	o	xxx									1.85

See also

• National champions high jump (women)
• 1984 Women's Olympic High Jump (Los Angeles)
• 1984 Women's Friendship Games High Jump (Prague)
• 1986 Women's European Championships High Jump (Stuttgart)
• 1988 Women's Olympic High Jump (Seoul)
• 1990 Women's European Championships High Jump (Split)
• 1991 Women's World Championships High Jump (Tokyo)

References

• Results

Notes and References

1. Web site: Detailed results . . 24 March 2019.