bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Yaroslava Mahuchikh overcame the “total panic” of armed conflict in her native Ukraine to win gold in the high jump at the World Indoor Championships on Saturday.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mahuchikh was forced to flee her home, hide out in a cellar and eventually make the 2,000km trip over three days to Belgrade to face what she dubbed her own front line.
The reigning European indoor high jump champion, who won Olympic bronze in Tokyo last summer and world outdoor silver in Doha in 2019, left her home in Dnipro just three weeks ago as the conflict escalated.
Training, needless to say, was low on her list of priorities.

But she did succeed in finding her way to Serbia after “hundreds of phone calls, many changes of direction, explosions, fires, and air raid sirens”.
“This medal is for Ukraine, all my country, all my people, all the military,” said Mahuchikh. “I must protect our country on the track.
“Before we went to the field, the only thought in my mind was about Ukraine because too many terrible things have happened there.
“I even doubted that I could jump at all, but my coach said I must go out and perform with the shape and fitness I had before the start of the Russian invasion.”

What a moment 💛💙

Yaroslava Mahuchikh 🇺🇦 clears a world-leading 2.02m in the high jump and beats @eleanorpatto 🇦🇺 to victory!

The 20-year-old secures Ukraine its first ever gold medal at the #WorldIndoorChamps ✨ pic.twitter.com/o95dqBUb6B
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) March 19, 2022

Coming into the competition at 1.88m, Mahuchikh had a failure at 1.92 and two at 2.00 before making the latter height. She sailed over 2.02 to ramp up the pressure on Eleanor Patterson. The Australian responded by passing, so the bar was raised to 2.04m.
But when Patterson failed at the new height, Mahuchikh was left celebrating in the Stark Arena, the crowd rising for a standing ovation with a handful of Ukrainian flags fluttering.
Patterson claimed silver with 2.00m, with Kazakhstan’s Nadezhda Dubovitskaya taking bronze (1.98).
“To win a silver behind Yaroslava makes it even more special,” said Patterson, who had painted her nails with a blue and yellow love heart in support of Ukraine.

Mahuchikh said she had been grateful for the support shown to her and the five other members of the all-female Ukraine team in Belgrade.
“I saw that Eleanor had manicured her nails with Ukrainian colours and a big yellow heart,” she said. “My heart right now is with all people who support us and defend Ukraine.”
Mahuchikh’s teammate Iryna Gerashchenko, who fled her Kyiv home with her husband and dog amid “everything at once: bombs and rockets” but no kit, finished fifth in the high jump with a best of 1.92m.
Mahuchikh’s victory came in the absence of Russia’s Mariya Lasitskene, who won gold in Tokyo competing as an accredited neutral athlete.
But Lasitskene was ruled out of the world indoors following World Athletics’ ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.


Hong Kong’s world-class junior hurdler Rico Cheung finds fast track at senior level

Illegal wind rules out Tiffany Yue’s giant leap, but long jump record in reach, she says

Long jumper Tiffany Yue wins gold in Portugal, now hopes to set a new Hong Kong record

Hong Kong hurdlers kick off European tour with sights firmly fixed on Hangzhou Asian Games selection

World Athletics

Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh defies odds to win emotional gold at World Athletics Indoor Championships

Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh celebrates winning the women’s high jump final. Photo: Reuters

Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh competes in the women’s high jump final during The World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade. Photo: AFP

Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh celebrates after winning the women’s high jump final with Australia’s Eleanor Patterson. Photo: Reuters

Ukraine invasion: US calls for Russian athletes to be thrown out of Winter Paralympics in Beijing

The Olympic flag (left) and Russian flag on display during the closing ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games. Photo: EPA-EFE

The slogan ‘Football stands together’ displayed on a huge screen before the English Carabao Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Ukraine invasion: Russia kicked out of World Cup by Fifa, other sporting bodies ban country’s athletes, teams

Fifa and Uefa have kicked Russia out of the World Cup and European club competitions. Photo: Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) applauds beside Fifa president Gianni Infantino at the end of the 2018 World Cup final between France and Croatia in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Photo: AP

Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina. Photo: Xinhua

Sport

Other Sport


‘This medal is for Ukraine, all my country, all my people, all the military,’ said Mahuchikh
Her teammate, Iryna Gerashchenko, also fled Ukraine with little more than her valuables and the clothes on her back



The Olympic bronze medallist hid in a cellar before making the trip over three panic-stricken days to Belgrade, where the Championships took place.


Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh defies odds to win emotional gold at World Athletics Indoor Championships

‘This medal is for Ukraine, all my country, all my people, all the military,’ said Mahuchikh Her teammate, Iryna Gerashchenko, also fled Ukraine with little more than her valuables and the clothes on her back

‘This medal is for Ukraine, all my country, all my people, all the military,’ said Mahuchikh

Her teammate, Iryna Gerashchenko, also fled Ukraine with little more than her valuables and the clothes on her back