This was expected to be a three-way battle between World Champion
Joyner-Kersee, world record holder Chistyakova and European
Champion Drechsler. The first skirmish was won by none of them, as
Belevskaya led the qualifying round with 7.06. The silver medallist
from the 1987 World Championships was in second place after two
rounds of the final with 7.04, after Chistyakova led the first round with
7.11. The Ukrainian-born Russian showed great spring, but less speed
than her rivals, and the superior quickness of Drechsler and Joyner-
Kersee came into play the following round as the German reached 7.18
ahead of Joyner-Kersee’s 7.16. Drechsler built on her lead with 7.22 in
the next round but was overtaken by Joyner-Kersee’s superb 7.40 in the
penultimate round, the American using every centimetre of the board.
Drechsler averaged almost 7.12 for her six-jump series, and
Chistyakova jumped well despite having her takeoff leg buckle under
her on her second jump.