The returning gold medalist, 2019 and 2022 world champion Malaika Mihambo, returned for her third Olympics after being the bridesmaid (4th place) in Rio. She was also the 2024 world leader. Returning bronze medalist Ese Brume also took bronze in 2019 and silver in 2022. 2022 World Championship bronze medalist Leticia Oro Melo did not compete. The 2023 World Championships revealed a new crop of medalists; gold was Ivana Španović, silver was Tara Davis-Woodhall and bronze was Alina Rotaru-Kottmann. Jasmine Moore was doing the rare jump double, having already taken bronze in the triple jump.
Mihambo set off to defend her title with a 6.77 m from almost the back of the board. Iapichino did her one better jumping 6.78 m from the middle of the board. Then Davis-Woodhall advanced the lead to 6.93 m. Near the end of the round, Moore hit her marks so perfectly the officials had to review it, but she was ruled fair for a 6.96 m. In the second round, Mihambo improved slightly to 6.81 m, only to see Larissa Iapichino push her out of third place with a 6.87 m moments later. Two more jumpers and Davis-Woodhall grabbed the lead with 7.05 m. Near the beginning of the third round, Mihambo took back third with 6.95 m. In the fourth round, Mihambo got off a big jump but also had a big foul on the takeoff. After Moore did not improve, Davis-Woodhall got off the winner 7.10 m (23 ft 3+1⁄2 in). In the fifth round, Mihambo moved her marks back and took off from the middle of the board. Her 6.98m could have challenged Davis-Woodhall if it had been from the line but was only good enough to move into second place. When Mihambo failed to improve on her final attempt, Davis-Woodhall knew she had the gold. She took a lackluster final attempt, stood up to wave to the crowd then fell back into the pit to do a snow angel in the sand.[1][2]
For the women's long jump event, the qualification period was between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. 32 athletes were able to qualify for the event, with a maximum of three athletes per nation, by jumping the entry standard of 6.86 m or further or by their World Athletics Ranking for this event.[6][7]
Results
Qualification
The qualification was held on 6 August, starting at 11:15 (UTC+2) in the morning. 32 athletes qualified for the first round by qualification time or world ranking.[8] All athletes meeting the qualification standard of 6.75 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final