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.
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Thirty-six athletes qualified for the event with both the reigning world champion and the defending Olympic champion absent from the competition. Blanka Vlasic won the silver medal at the most recent world championships after losing out on gold based on fault jumps and seemed to be a big favorite for the title. Kamila Licwinko, 2012 bronze medalist Ruth Beitia, and Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch just missed out on the podium of the world championships after a tight battle, though Chaunte Lowe had the highest season's best performance as one of only two competitors to have breached the 2-metres mark, just like Jungfleisch had done earlier in the year. Other potential outsiders also included Jeannelle Scheper, Eleanor Patterson, Svetlana Radzivil, and Nafissatou Thiam.
