Tech’s Chaunté Lowe in high-jump finals

In her fourth Olympics, Georgia Tech grad Chaunté Lowe will pursue her first podium finish in the high jump Saturday. The finals from Rio begin at 7:30 p.m.

Lowe cleanly advanced through Thursday’s preliminaries and is one of 17 high jumpers in the finals. Lowe has the world’s best jump thus far this season — 2.01 meters, or 6’7” – recorded in her win at the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore., in July.

As circumstances would have it, she’ll face a most familiar opponent in the finals – former Georgia All-American Levern Spencer, who represents Saint Lucia. The two were collegiate contemporaries and have also competed in the Olympic high jump together in 2008 and 2012. Both are their nation’s record holders in the event.