Rybalko bid falls short

Viktoriya Rybalko of Ukraine, who was a star sprinter and jumper at the University of Maine from 1999 to 2003, came up short in her attempt to qualify for the women’s long jump finals.

Rybalko, 25, jumped 6.43 meters in her third and final attempt Monday night, but she needed to better 6.60 meters in order to make it into the top 12 that moved into Friday’s finals.

She fouled on her first two attempts, adding pressure to her third one. Her leap was good enough to put her into the top 12 in her pool for a while, but she was eventually eliminated as other long jumpers outperformed her. The top 12 jumpers from the two pools combined advanced to Friday’s competition.