Inika McPherson expected to qualify for the final round of the Olympic women’s high jump.

In fact, the Port Arthur native expects to bring home the gold medal.

McPherson, who will turn 30 in September, was among 17 athletes to successfully clear 1.94 meters, or 6 feet, 3½ inches, in Thursday morning’s preliminary round at Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The final round is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

All three Americans made it to the final. Three-time defending national champion Chaunte Lowe and 18-year-old Vashti Cunningham will compete along with McPherson and the world’s best jumpers on the eve of the Olympic Games’ closing ceremony.

NBC Sports Network showed the men’s decathlon and shot put through much of the 8 a.m. hour, but the 5-foot-4 McPherson was shown easily clearing 1.92 and 1.94 to stay with the leaders and letting out a bit of excitement after making the higher mark. Lowe, a 6-footer, touched the bar at 1.94, but it did not fall.

McPherson’s career best is 2 meters even, or 6-6 3/4, which she set in the 2014 USA Track and Field Championships.

On her Facebook page, McPherson posted around noon:

“With God’s grace we made it to the final thank you Coach Mom Fam E USATF USOC PA Stand UP we just getting started let’s Eat”

Cunningham is the daughter of former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham and a recent graduate of Bishop Gorman High School in Nevada. She signed with Nike to compete as a professional, forgoing any collegiate eligibility.

Cunningham, whose personal best is 1.96 meters (6-5), was second to Lowe in July’s U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore. McPherson earned the third and final spot.

Those three will try to join 100-meter sprinters Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin as the only American women to sweep the medals in an Olympic track and field event. NBCOlympics.com, citing a historian, noted that American men had achieved the feat 61 times prior to the Rio Games.

Lowe, the favorite to win the event, holds the world’s best height this year at 2.01 meters. Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch of Germany, another finalist, is second at 2 meters.

The rest of the finals field includes: Ruth Beitia of Spain, Mirela Demireva of Bulgaria, Iryna Herashchenko of Ukraine, Morgan Lake of Great Britain, Kamila Licwinko of Poland, Airine Palsyte of Lithuania, Svetlana Radzivil of Uzbekistan, Desiree Rossit of Italy, Sofie Skoog of Sweden, Levern Spencer of Saint Lucia, Alyxandria Treasure of Canada, Alessia Trost of Italy and Blanka Vlasic of Croatia.

Anna Chicherova of Russia won the 2012 women’s high jump in London at 2.05 meters. Duncanville resident Brigetta Barrett, the silver medalist then, retired this past February at age 25.

I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews