In an earlier post I discussed USATF’s qualifying procedure change that means marks from high school and college meets not on the World Athletics Calendar no longer count for qualifying for the Olympic Trials.
Disclaimer: I do not know which athletes would have chosen to compete at the Olympic Trials had their marks counted. It costs money to enter the meet, many athletes chose not to flush that money down the drain, knowing their marks would not be accepted. This article is about who had the choice taken away from them.
The men’s high jump entries were not quite as dramatic as the women, but there were a number of impacted athletes who did not make it into the meet as a result.
Of the top 16 athletes who were accepted, Caleb Snowden of Arkansas-Pine Bluff had a mark from a meet at Memphis that did not count and Trey Allen of Louisville had a mark from a home meet that did not count. Both athletes were able to get in with a lower mark that did count.
Quite a few athletes near the bottom 1/3 of the list did not enter, so 2.19 ended up being the lowest accepted mark. Tito Alofe of Harvard had a mark from UMass-Lowell that did not count, but made it in with his best counting mark.
Four athletes had marks that did not count that might have gotten them in the meet in the past. Post-collegiate athlete Perry Christie entered the meet and was rejected, the other three did not try.
At the 2021 Olympic Trials, 2.20 was the lowest mark accepted, in 2024 it was 2.19.