Jordan Scott finished fifth in the men’s triple jump during the opening session of the World Athletics Indoor Championships with a best of 17.10m at the Nanjing Cube, Nanjing, China on Friday.

Scott, the former NCAA Division1 Indoor champion, started slowly with a foul on his first attempt before completing a solid series that took him over the 17.00m mark twice in the competition. He was as high as fourth place after the fourth round.

Scott also had marks of 16.55m in the second round that saw him move into the top eight, then 16.25m before his big jump in the fourth round that saw him move into fourth place.

He followed up with his second best jump of 17.04m before ending with 16.86m.

Italy’s Andy Garcia, who jumped a world leading 17.80m in the opening round, his only legal mark of the competition, won the gold medal ahead of China’s Yaming Zhu who had a season best 17.33m and Brazil’s Almir Dos Santos took the bronze medal with a season’s best 17.22m.

In the format that was used, the top 10 of 15 starters advanced after the first three rounds with a further two dropping out after the fourth round and an additional two after the fifth round.