Australian duo Eleanor Patterson and Niciola Olyslagers have both stamped their gold-medal credentials with commanding qualifying performances at the world championships in Budapest.
Defending world gold medallist Patterson got over her three heights at the first time of asking, including an effortless clearance at 1.92m to storm into the final on Sunday evening (early Monday AEST).
Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Olsylagers had one miss at 1.92m before also advancing with ease on another steamy morning in the Hungarian capital.
Olyslagers has only been beaten once in 10 competitions this year.
The pair share the Australian record of 2.02m.
Last year in Eugene, Patterson became the first Australian woman to win a world or Olympic high jump title.
The 27-year-old underwent surgery to repair a broken foot in February.
Patterson spent several months recuperating but proved she was back to near her top with a season-best clearance of 1.96m at last month's Monaco Diamond League meet.
"(The pressure of being the reigning world champ) is there but at the same time you can pick and choose whether or not to heap it onto your back or weigh yourself down," she said.
"At the start of the year I probably hadn't processed that I was world champ yet.
"Having the opportunity to sit on the sidelines with injury helped me to process it in a different way."
Olyslagers was also extremely pleased with how the qualifying round panned out.
"It was great," she said.
"I had a good time; wrote a lot of notes in my notebook.
"One big thing I'm taking away from this is the surface is very reactive so I need to have that balance between not putting too much effort in, but also not being too relaxed.
"Try and balance peace and passion in one.
"It's an art form and I'm hopefully going to be a good artist over the next few nights."
Also through to the final were Ukrainian stars Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Iryna Gerashchenko.
Australian youngster Erin Shaw was eliminated with a best clearance of 1.80m.
Australian Associated Press
