The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat for landing. Since ancient times, competitors have introduced increasingly effective techniques to arrive at the current form, and the current universally preferred method is the Fosbury Flop, in which athletes run towards the bar and leap head first with their back to the bar.
Javier Sotomayor Sanabria is a Cuban retired track and field athlete, who specialized in the high jump and is the current world record holder. The 1992 Olympic champion, he was the dominant high jumper of the 1990s; his personal best of 2.45 m makes him the only person to have ever cleared eight feet.
Ivan Sergeyevich Ukhov is a Russian high jumper. He won a gold medal at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships and is a two-time European Indoor champion. He was also the silver medallist at the 2010 European Athletics Championships and the winner of the high jump at the inaugural 2010 IAAF Diamond League. In the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he won the gold medal, but it was announced on 1 February 2019 that all his results from 16 July 2012 to 31 December 2015 were being disqualified for doping.
Bohdan Viktorovych Bondarenko is a Ukrainian high jumper. He is the 2013 World champion, 2014 European champion, and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist.
Mutaz Essa Barshim is a Qatari track and field athlete who competes in the high jump and is the current Olympic Champion (2020). He is also the current World Champion and second best jumper of all-time with a personal best of 2.43. He won gold at the 2017 World Championships in London and at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. At the Olympics, Barshim won silver at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, silver at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and shared gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics Tokyo. He was the Asian Indoor and World Junior champion in 2010, and won the high jump gold medals at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships and 2011 Military World Games. He holds the Asian record in high jump. In 2021, his bronze in 2012 Summer Olympics got promoted to silver due to the disqualification of the original gold medalist Ukhov of the event.
The men's high jump competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 5–7 August. Thirty-five athletes from 27 nations competed. The event was won by Ivan Ukhov of Russia, the nation's second consecutive and third overall victory in the men's high jump. On February 1, 2019, Ukhov was stripped of the gold medal by the Court of Arbitration in Sport for doping offences. Erik Kynard's silver returned the United States to the men's high jump podium after a one-Games absence. A three-way tie for third resulted in bronze medals for Derek Drouin, Robert Grabarz, and Mutaz Essa Barshim. In 2021, the above medals were all promoted, so that Kynard became the gold medalist while Drouin, Garabarz and Barshim shared the silver.
Robert "Robbie" Karl Grabarz is a former British high jumper active during the 2010s, with his greatest success coming between 2012 and 2017. He was the 2012 European champion, and won a shared silver medal in the 2012 Olympics, which was upgraded from bronze after disqualification of the original winner, Ivan Ukhov of Russia, for doping in 2021. He won the Diamond League in 2014.
Gianmarco Tamberi is an Italian high jumper, current Olympic champion and World indoor champion (2016).
The 17th IAAF World Indoor Championships was held from 1 to 4 March 2018 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. This was the city's second hosting of the event as it previously did so in 2003.
The high jump at the Summer Olympics is grouped among the four track and field jumping events held at the multi-sport event. The men's high jump has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the first Summer Olympics in 1896. The women's high jump was one of five events to feature on the first women's athletics programme in 1928, and it was the only jumping event available to women until 1948, when the long jump was permitted.
The men's high jump competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was held at the Olympic Stadium between 14–16 August. Forty-four athletes from 28 nations competed. The event was won by Derek Drouin of Canada, the nation's first victory in the men's high jump since 1932. Drouin was the ninth man to win multiple medals in the high jump, after his 2012 bronze. Mutaz Essa Barshim, who had tied Drouin for bronze in 2012, was the tenth multiple medalist in the event. Barshim's silver was Qatar's fifth Olympic medal in any event, and the first better than bronze. Bohdan Bondarenko took bronze, Ukraine's first medal in the men's high jump.
Sharika Renea Nelvis is an American hurdler. In 2014, she was NCAA indoor and outdoor sprint hurdles champion. After graduating from Arkansas State University that summer, Nelvis turned professional and topped the indoor world list in 2015. Nelvis represented the United States at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in 100 m hurdles and the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships in 60 m hurdles. Nelvis won the women's 60 metres hurdles with a time of 7.70 at 2018 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships and repeated in 2019.
JaCorian Kevon Duffield is an American track and field athlete who competes in the high jump. His personal record for the event is 2.34 m, set as he was the 2015 runner-up at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The men's high jump at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place on March 19, 2016.
The men's high jump at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 11 and 13 August.
Brian Brown is an American male former track and field athlete who competed in the high jump. His career best was 2.34 m, set in 1990. He was the national champion at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1989 and won the NCAA Indoor Division I title in 1990.
The women's high jump at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place at Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, United Kingdom, on 1 March 2018.
The women's long jump at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place at Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, United Kingdom, on 4 March 2018.
The men's high jump event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 30 July and 1 August 2021 at the Olympic Stadium. 33 athletes from 24 nations competed; the total possible number depended on how many nations would use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 32 qualifying through mark or ranking. Italian athlete Gianmarco Tamberi along with Qatari athlete Mutaz Essa Barshim emerged as joint winners of the event following a tie between both of them as they cleared 2.37m. Both Tamberi and Barshim agreed to share the gold medal in a rare instance where the athletes of different nations had agreed to share the same medal in the history of Olympics. Barshim in particular was heard to ask a competition official "Can we have two golds?" in response to being offered a 'jump off'. Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus took bronze. The medals were the first ever in the men's high jump for Italy and Belarus, the first gold in the men's high jump for Italy and Qatar, and the third consecutive medal in the men's high jump for Qatar. Barshim became only the second man to earn three medals in high jump, joining Patrik Sjöberg of Sweden.
The men's high jump at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha from 1 to 4 October.
