Former Apopka athlete Donald Scott, eyeing his second Olympic Games, qualified for Paris on Sunday, clinching the final spot with a leap of 16.87 meters in the U.S. Olympic Trials triple jump final at Eugene, Oregon.
He hit his qualifying mark with his third jump of the first round and held that spot through the final round.
He will be joined on the U.S. men’s Olympic triple jump team by top finisher Salif Mane from Farleigh Dickinson, who leaped an Olympic Trials best of 17.58 meters. Russell Robinson from the University of Miami finished second at 17.03.
Scott, who finished seventh at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, faced some adversity, scratching on his first jump, so he needed to hit one of his two remaining preliminary jumps to qualify for one of the eight spots in the final round.
On jump No. 2, Scott hit a 16.62-meter leap that put him in third place, but only momentarily after NCAA champion Mane popped a Sunday-best leap of 17.28 meters. Scott sat in fifth place on his third attempt, finally getting in stride and landing a 16.87 mark to put him in second place and sending him into the final round of eight.