Hamish Kerr was holding back tears during the Olympic high jump qualification round at Stade de France, as he came within one jump of years of hard work coming to an unexpected halt.
Kerr, the world indoor champion, was in top form and high spirits before he started jumping.
The New Zealander cleared the first height of 2.15 metres cleanly in Paris on Wednesday night (NZ time).
But then the bar moved to 2.20m and Kerr missed with his first, then his second attempt.
He had one last attempt to keep his Olympic dream alive - and Kerr admitted fear was setting in.
"I've faced a few of those jumps in my life and not all of them have pulled off, so I had to dig pretty deep for that one.
"I'm so grateful I had my coach and my team around me and the people that knew what I needed to do in that time, and they were the ones who gave me the belief that I could do it."
Kerr went on to clear 2.20m with his third attempt, before easily leaping 2.27m on his first try to seal a spot in the final.
He was one of just five athletes to clear 2.27m.
"If you can get a third attempt like that, you can get any third attempt," he said of his final successful 2.20m jump.
"I think that's what I'll take away from it."
Kerr told reporters he went to a dark place while standing on the purple athletics track, awaiting his turn on the runway.
"It was pretty scary. I was s****ing myself," the 27-year-old said.
"At this level it is the top two inches that really count. The body is in the best shape it's ever been, it's just around executing that, so it's reminding myself of that and not getting too complacent.
"To have my back up against a wall and be able to fight [back] from that is something I'm really proud of."
While Kerr, ranked No 1 in the world, sailed through to the final, the two defending gold medallists from the Tokyo Olympics - Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi and Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim - nearly did not.
Tamberi failed on three attempts at 2.27m but made it through as one of the top 12 performers in the qualification.
Barshim picked up a leg injury while attempting 2.27m, but eventually got over the bar and into the final.
