The competition exists out of two separate rounds. In the qualification, each competitor attempts to jump over a bar set at a certain height, with three failed attempts at the same height ending their competition. After four set heights, the twelve best performance advance to the final, including athletes tied for twelfth place. In the final, the qualified athletes once again attempt to jump over a certain height, but contrary to the qualification, the competition is continued until there is only a single competitor remaining.
Preview[]
Forty-four athletes qualified for the event with the defending medalists as some of the big medal contenders once again. Bronze medalists of London Mutaz Essa Barshim and Derek Drouin were the world-leading athlete and the world champion, respectively, but Robert Grabarz and Erik Kynard could definitely not be counted out. Zhang Guowei had missed the gold medal at the world championships by only 0.01 metres, and was tied with the 2013 world champion Bohdan Bondarenko. Other potential outsiders would be the 2009 bronze medalist of the world championships Sylwester Bednarek, Andriy Protsenko, the world champion of 2007 Donald Thomas, and the bronze medalist of Athens 2004 Jaroslav Baba.
