1987 World Championships in Athletics – Women's high jump

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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 2.09 m (6 ft 10+1⁄4 in). 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
World Record	Stefka Kostadinova (BUL)	2.08 m	May 31, 1986	Sofia, Bulgaria
Event Record	Tamara Bykova (URS)	2.01 m	August 9, 1983	Helsinki, Finland
Broken records during the 1987 World Athletics Championships
World Record	Stefka Kostadinova (BUL)	2.09 m	August 30, 1987	Rome, Italy
Event Record	Stefka Kostadinova (BUL)	2.09 m	August 30, 1987	Rome, Italy

Results

Qualifying round

Held on Saturday 1987-08-29

Rank	Group	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	A	Heike Redetzky	West Germany	1.91	q
1	A	Lyudmila Avdeyenko	Soviet Union	1.91	q
1	A	Coleen Sommer	United States	1.91	q
1	A	Silvia Costa	Cuba	1.91	q
1	A	Stefka Kostadinova	Bulgaria	1.91	q
1	A	Madely Beaugendre	France	1.91	q
7	A	Amra Temim	Yugoslavia	1.88
7	A	Ni Xiuling	China	1.88
7	A	Kim Hee-sun	South Korea	1.88
7	A	Galina Astafei	Romania	1.88
11	A	Alessandra Bonfiglioli	Italy	1.85
	A	Sigrid Kirchmann	Austria	NM
1	A	Louise Ritter	United States	1.91	q
1	A	Susanne Beyer	East Germany	1.91	q
1	A	Lyudmila Andonova	Bulgaria	1.91	q
1	A	Svetlana Isaeva-Leseva	Bulgaria	1.91	q
1	A	Tamara Bykova	Soviet Union	1.91	q
1	A	Larisa Kositsyna	Soviet Union	1.91	q
7	A	Megumi Sato	Japan	1.88
7	A	Christine Stanton	Australia	1.88
9	A	Phyllis Bluntson	United States	1.85
9	A	Hanne Haugland	Norway	1.85
11	A	Disa Gísladóttir	Iceland	1.80
11	A	Orlane Maria dos Santos	Brazil	1.80

Final

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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
	Stefka Kostadinova	Bulgaria	–	o	o	–	o	o	o	xxo	xo	–	xo	2.09	WR
	Tamara Bykova	Soviet Union	–	o	o	o	o	o	o	o	xx–	x		2.04
	Susanne Beyer	East Germany	o	o	o	o	o	xo	xxx					1.99
4	Silvia Costa	Cuba	–	o	o	o	o	xx-	x					1.96
5	Larisa Kositsyna	Soviet Union	–	o	o	xxo	o	xx-	x					1.96
6	Heike Redetzky	West Germany	–	o	o	o	xo	xxx						1.96
7	Svetlana Isaeva-Leseva	Bulgaria	–	o	o	o	xxx							1.93
8	Lyudmila Avdeyenko	Soviet Union	–	xo	o	o	xxx							1.93
8	Louise Ritter	United States	–	o	xo	o	xxx							1.93
10	Madely Beaugendre	France	o	o	o	xo	xxx							1.93
11	Coleen Sommer	United States	–	o	xo	x								1.93
12	Lyudmila Andonova	Bulgaria	o	o	xxx									1.85