All three Americans, including Vashti Cunningham, move to high jump final

RIO DE JANEIRO — Vashti Cunningham, the 18-year-old American track phenom, advanced through qualifying in the high jump in a tie for fifth, bolstering hopes that the Nevadan may be in contention for a medal here at the Rio Games.

Cunningham, a recent graduate of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, needed three tries at 1.94 meters to qualify. Teammates Chaunté Lowe and Inika McPherson were perfect on the day and moved into Saturday's final with ease.

It wasn’t a perfectly clean run through qualifying for Cunningham, who needed multiple attempts to clear heights under her personal best.

Yet Cunningham’s age and inexperience belies her talent, and how quickly she’s risen from youth star to genuine Olympic medal hopeful.

In the span of four months last year, Cunningham set the national high school record and finished first at both the U.S. Junior National Championships and the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships.

She took gold at the Indoor Championships in March, held in Portland, and embarked on a professional career shortly afterward. Cunningham finished second at last month’s U.S. team trials, behind Lowe, to earn her first of what should be several appearances in the Summer Games.

She always had the bloodlines to be a world-class athlete: Cunningham’s father, Randall, was a successful NFL quarterback, while her brother, also named Randall, has earned All-America honors in the long jump at Southern California. Her mother, Felicity DeJager Cunningham, was ballerina with the Dance Theater of Harlem.

TRACK AND FIELD AT THE RIO OLYMPICS