Kroyter’s jumps, Olympic dreams fall short

Dima Kroyter will have to wait at least four more years to realize his Olympic dream after clearing only 2.19 meters in the high jump qualifiers at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old needed to equal his personal best of 2.28m to be added to Israel’s delegation as an up-and-coming athlete, but he failed three times at 2.23m after clearing 2.19m with his second attempt.

Earlier Wednesday, Donald Sanford, an American who received citizenship earlier this year after marrying an Israeli, advanced to the 400m semifinals by winning his heat in a time of 45.90 seconds.

The semifinals will take place on Thursday evening and the 25-year-old will be looking to complete the course in the Olympic A standard time of 45.30s to book his place in London. Sanford’s personal best from 2010 is 45.21s.

“I felt good,” said Sanford. “I tried to save energy for the end of the race but started off a little too quickly.”

Demitri Barski, formerly Glushchenko, missed out on a place in the 100m semifinals by a single hundredth of a second on Wednesday, clocking a time of 10.59s in the heats.

“Considering the injury ravaged season I have experienced I can’t really say I’m disappointed,” said Barski. “But obviously missing out by one hundredth of a second hurts.

“It’s tough to spend all year preparing and working so hard for a race which takes less than 11 seconds, but that is what I have chosen to do in life and I don’t regret it.”

Ma’ayan Furman had dreams of clearing 1.95m and reaching the London Games on Wednesday, but she instead finished 24th and last in the women’s high jump qualifiers.

Furman jumped just 1.78m and only did so in her third attempt.

“I’m really disappointed,” she said. “I just can’t understand what happened.”