EUGENE, Ore. — Erik Kynard has found rarefied air that no other American high jumper can reach.
By the end of Sunday’s high jump final at the U.S. Olympic Trials, the former Kansas State star was competing against himself. He came away more frustrated than satisfied, muttering at the bar after missing a final attempt at the meet record.
“I didn’t miss a bar until I went out,” said Kynard, whose winning height was 7 feet, 6 inches. “It makes it very difficult to get into it when you’ve had the competition won. There was no point in the competition where I was — no (disrespect) to those guys — in a position that I was really being pushed or competing.