At the 2024 Paris Diamond League, she broke the world record in the event with a jump of 2.10 m.
Early life
Yaroslava Mahuchikh was born on 19 September 2001 in Dnipropetrovsk (now - Dnipro)[1] to Olha and Oleksiy Mahuchikh. Her father Olekiy was a canoeist and mother Olha was a gymnast and did athletics. Older sister Anastasia Hryhorovich was into karate and athletics and represented Ukraine in karate competitively.[9][10][11]
Mahuchikh began doing sports at the age of seven[12] following her sister's lead. Karate became young Mahuchikh's first sport when she accompanied her sister to her karate classes.[13] But Mahuchikh didn't like karate and gave up after a few tries. To help channel the tireless energy of young Mahuchikh to good use, her sister brought her to the local sports club, where she trained, to try athletics next. Young Mahuchikh began to train under her sister's coach Olena Kutsenko where what started off as play classes gradually turned into full-fledged training.[14] Prior to focusing on high jump, Mahuchikh started out competing as a sprinter, hurdler and long jumper,[13] until her current coach Tetiana Stepanova came to the sports club in Dnipro when Mahuchikh was 11. At first, Kutsenko and Stepanova coached Mahuchikh together, but later at the age of 13, Mahuchikh came under the tutelage of Tetiana Stepanova after the coaches parted ways. Under Stepanova's guidance, Mahuchikh deepened her love for sports and found her niche in high jump progressing rapidly in the next few years.[15][9][14]
Aside from athletics, Mahuchikh attended singing and art lessons when she was little. She grew to like drawing and painting and participated in art contests until about 2015 - 2016.[16][17] She dreamed of becoming an artist or singer but that changed after she started with track and field.[18] She went on later to enrol in Dnipro Higher School of Physical Education to pursue her new aspirarion to become a coach.[11][18]
In 2016, she won the gold medal at the Ukrainian National Juniors Athletics Championships, held in Zaporizhzhia.[19] In that year, Mahuchikh competed at international youth track and field competition between Ukrainian, Belarusian and Turkish national athletics teams in Lutsk, winning a silver medal.[20]
At the age of 15, Mahuchikh competed at her first international meeting in Minsk, jumping 1.82 m.[21] In May 2017, she won a first gold medal in her youth career at international youth track and field competition between Ukrainian, Belarusian and Turkish national athletics teams in Bursa with a clearance of 1.88 m.[22] In July 2017, she won the gold medal at the 2017 IAAF World U18 Championships in Nairobi by the largest margin in World U18 Championships history with a personal best and world age best of 1.92 m. She equalled the championship record of her compatriot Iryna Kovalenko from 2003.[23] A few weeks later, she won the high jump event at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Győr with a clearance of 1.89 m.[24]
In May 2018, Mahuchikh competed at the international meeting Internationales Pfingstsportfest, winning a bronze medal with a jump of 1.86 m.[25] In July 2018, Mahuchikh added 2 cm to her PB clearing 1.94 m at the European U18 Championships and won the gold medal by 10 cm over the runner-up, setting a new championship record.[26] In the end of this month, Mahuchikh won a silver medal at the international track and field meeting in Schifflange, jumping 1.93 m.[27] In October, she won the gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires with a combined height of 3.87 m and set a new personal best of 1.95 m at stage 2.[28] A month after her Youth Olympic success, Mahuchikh improved her personal best to 1.96 m and equaled the world U18 best in an annual indoor meeting in Minsk.[29]
2019 - 2020: First medal at the World Championships, Rising Star status and new world junior record (indoor and outdoor)
At the start of outdoor season in May 2019, she won the opening meeting of the Diamond League in Doha with an outdoor personal best of 1.96 m and became the youngest athlete ever to win a Diamond League event at the age of 17 years and 226 days.[31]
On 30 June, at the Prefontaine Classic in Palo Alto, 7th leg of the 2019 Diamond League series, Mahuchikh cleared 2.0 m for the first time, becoming the youngest jumper in history to do so. She finished 3rd at that diamond league event.[32]
In September, she jumped 1.89 m at the Diamond League Final in Brussels, finishing in sixth place.[33] Later that month, she jumped 2.04 m at the World Championships in Doha, winning the silver medal and breaking the world U20 record held by Heike Balck[34] since 1989 to become the youngest ever field event medallist in World Championships history[32] at the age of 18 years and 11 days, displacing Heike Drechsler who won the long jump title in 1983 at 18 years and 241 days.[13]
In January 2020, Mahuchikh jumped 2.01 m in Lviv, a new world U20 indoor record,[38] which she broke again a few days later when she jumped over 2.02 m in Karlsruhe.[39] On 5 March, World Athletics officially ratified her world indoor U20 record.[40] She was the overall winner of the World Indoor Tour in February, thereby securing a wildcard for participating in World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, later postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic regulations in China.[41][42][43][44]
In September, Mahuchikh took the silver medal at the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting, in Dessau, jumping 1.96 m. She was beaten by compatriot Yuliya Levchenko on countback, but both women bettered the previous meeting record of 1.92m set nine years ago by Levern Spencer.[49]
Mahuchikh finished her 2020 outdoor season, with a second place finish at the Diamond League stage Golden Gala in Rome with a jump of 1.95 m. Incidentally, it was compatriot Yuliya Levchenko who triumphed over her again at the Rome meeting in what was their fifth and final encounter of the outdoor season, giving Levchenko the bragging rights as she ended her season with a 3 to 2 head to head victory over her rising star compatriot.[50]
2021: First Olympic medal and first European indoor title
In January, Mahuchikh debuted her indoor season competing at the Christmas Starts in Kyiv, where she jumped 2.02 m matching her Ukrainian indoor record which she set in Karlsruhe last January.[51] Later that month, Mahuchikh won a gold medal at the International High Jump Meeting Udinjump, held in Udine, Italy, jumping 2.00 m, but with three failures at 2.03 m.[52]
In February, Mahuchikh cleared 2.06 m at Banská Bystrica, the highest any woman had jumped indoors since 2012 and a Ukrainian national record. That mark moved Mahuchikh to equal third on the world indoor all-time list.[53] On 12 February, Mahuchikh won the gold medal at the Ukrainian Athletics Indoor Championships, jumping 2.00 m.[54]
In March, days after fleeing the Russian invasion, Mahuchikh claimed the gold medal in the high jump at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.[65] She had to undertake a three-day journey of 2000 km by car from Ukraine to Serbia to compete at the championships.[66] Afterwards, she moved to Germany to train while the war continued in her country.[67]
In September, she won the high jump at the Brussels Diamond League meeting with a world-leading mark of 2.05 m, which was also a Ukrainian national record.[72] Later that month, she won the Diamond League Final in Zürich with a jump of 2.03 m, 9 cm ahead of her nearest competitor. Mahuchikh won five of the seven Diamond League high jump events in 2022.[73]
In October, World Athletics announced that Mahuchikh together with fellow Ukrainian high jumper Andriy Protsenko were shortlisted as one of the three finalists for the International Fair Play Committee’s (CIFP) Fair Play Award 2022. Both athletes were nominated for displaying "incredible strength and resilience" to win silver and bronze medals respectively at the Oregon 2022 World Championships, despite facing huge challenges due to the current situation in Ukraine.[74] The fair play award eventually went to Katie Nageotte and Holly Bradshaw. For her sporting achievements in 2022, Mahuchikh was a finalist in her first nomination for the European Female Athlete of the Year award competition.[75] She was also nominated for the Women's World Athlete of the Year award by World Althletics,[76] for the first time too.
In January 2023, Mahuchikh cleared a world-leading jump of 2.00 m at the Demyanyuk Memorial in Lviv.[79] The following month, she improved her world-leading result, jumping 2.02 m at Metz Moselle Athelor meeting in Metz.[80] In March, Mahuchikh finished her indoor season, winning the gold medal at the European Indoor Championships.[81]
On 2 September, Mahuchikh jumped a season-best mark of 2.02 m at the Diamond League stage in Xiamen.[87] Later in the month, she defended her diamond league title at the Diamond League Final in Eugene, Oregon with a world-leading mark of 2.03 m, becoming the first Ukrainian in history to win two Diamond League trophies.[88]
Later in the year, Mahuchikh was a finalist in the 2023 Women's European Athlete of the Year award competition for a second consecutive year. She was also nominated by World Athletics for the 2023 Women's World Athlete of the Year award, also for a second time in her career.[89][90] For the second time in her career, Mahuchikh was also a nominee for the 2023 International Female Athlete of the Year award by Athletics Weekly (Readers' Choice Awards)[91] and for the 2023 World Women's Athlete of the Year award by Track and Field News.[92] Mahuchikh was in the list of PAPEuropean Sportsperson of the Year Award nominees, taking 22nd place in poll.[93]
2024: New senior world record and first Olympic gold medal
In January, Mahuchikh kicked off her 2024 campaign at the Internationales Springer-Meeting in Cottbus in superb form clearing a world-leading jump of 2.04 m, both a meeting record and the highest she ever started in a competitive year.[94] In February, she debuted at the Millrose Games, where she won the gold medal with a jump of 2.00 m.[95] In March, Mahuchikh won the silver medal at the World Indoor Championships.[96] In June, she won the gold medal at the European Championships in Rome, Italy, becoming European champion for a second time in a row.[97]
In July, she broke the world record in high jump by jumping 2.10 m at the Wanda Diamond League in Paris. The previous record (2.09 m) was one of the longest-standing on the books, set by Stefka Kostadinova at the 1987 World Championships.[98] On 24 October 2024, World Athletics officially ratified her world record.[99] On 8 July, a day after Mahuchikh set the new world record, Russia launched a massive missile attack on Ukraine killing at least 47 people and injuring about 170 others including 2 adults who died when Okhmatdyt children's hospital was hit. Mahuchikh reacted to the missile attack on Instagram saying "No record will bring joy while Russia attacks my country every day, kills our soldiers, and takes the lives of children and their parents".[100]
In August, Mahuchikh won the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Paris, jumping 2.00 m to become a new Olympic champion.[101][102][103] It was Ukraine's first individual gold of the Summer Games, following a victory in women's team sabre fencing.[104] Mahuchikh became the third Ukrainian Olympic champion in athletics after Inessa Kravets in triple jump in 1996 and Nataliya Dobrynska in pentathlon in 2008.[105] Mahuchikh also became the first Ukrainian sportswoman to win the Youth Olympic Games and Olympic Games[106] and to win two Olympic medals in athletics.[107] After the final of the high jump event, Time, The New York Times and other media outlets wrote about her routine of resting in a sleeping bag during jump breaks, which aided her in winning gold medal at this Summer Olympics, and all of her sudden she became a hero of memes.[108][109][110]
On 22 August, Mahuchikh marked her debut as Olympic champion winning the Diamond League stageAthletissima in Lausanne by jumping 1.99 m.[111] With this victory, her third Diamond League win of the season having previous triumphed in Stockholm and Paris, she qualified early for the Diamond League Finals at Brussels before the last leg of the diamond league high jump series at Zürich.[112]
In September, Mahuchikh won the Diamond League stage Weltklasse Zürich amid rainy conditions with a clearance of 1.96 m, her lowest winning height in a year and a half at international competitions.[113][114] On 13 September, Mahuchikh won the Diamond League Final in Brussels by jumping 1.97 m and winning her third Diamond League title of her career.[115][116]
In October, Mahuchikh opined in an interview that Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis is the best male athlete of the world because of his record breaking achievenents.[117] A few days later, both Duplantis and Mahuchikh were crowned the male and female European Athlete of the Year respectively. For Mahuchikh, this was her first time and she became too the first Ukrainian sportswoman to win the award and just the second Ukrainian to be crown after high jumper Bohdan Bondarenko won the men's award in 2013.[118][119] She was a finalist for the award in 2022 and 2023. Later in the month, for the third time in her career, Athletics Weekly nominated Mahuchikh for International Female Athlete of the Year.[120]
After the final event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Mahuchikh congratulated Russian high jumper and Olympic champion Mariya Lasitskene for her win and hugged her.[124] Her gesture of sportmanship however evoked a wave of nationalistic feelings among Ukrainians and caused a controversy because of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War and the fact that both athletes were honorary members of their respective country's armed forces. Lasitskene held the rank of captain in the Russian Armed Forces while Mahuchikh was a junior lieutenant in the Armed Forces of Ukraine: their military ranks were awarded to them because of their outstanding athletic achievements.[125] Ukrainian karateka Stanislav Horuna, who won bronze in the men's under 75 kg kumite karate category, took to Facebook to express his support for Mahuchikh.[126][127] Mahuchikh herself explained that the photo with Lasitskene had no political intent.[124]
In September 2021, after the Diamond League Final, there was a new controversy because of another picture with Lasitskene, who had won the Diamond League Final.[128] This photo was published by Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers in Instagram.[129]
The International Olympic Committee had earlier recommended international federations to exclude Russia and Belarus from hosting and competing in the wake of the Russian invasion. In June 2023, at the Lausanne diamond league, after the IOC made a partial change of decision in March 2023 recommending international federations to allow the gradual return of neutral Russian athletes - those evaluated to have no miltary links - back to international competitions, Mahuchikh publicly criticised president of the IOC Thomas Bach arguing defending Russian athletes citing discrimination is unacceptable when Ukraine's situation remained unchanged and many of her country's athletes were still deprived of a safe and proper training facility. She insisted Russians should be excluded from 2024 Paris Olympics. But IOC's decision in March 2023 held off on deciding whether Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete at next year's Summer Olympics until an appropriate time.[134][135][136]
In February 2024, after IOC announced in December 2023 that athletes from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to take part as individual neutral athletes in 2024 Paris Olympics, so long as they meet certain eligibility criteria, Mahuchikh expressed disappointment saying that it would be difficult for her to compete against athletes from those countries as they would remind her of the destruction of the cities and lives in Ukraine brought about by Russian people.[137][138][139]
In June 2024, during the European Championships, Mahuchikh shared that she has spoken to international media to no avail against non-neutral former Russian athletes competing internationally under the citizenship of another country such as Elena Kulichenko, an ex-Russian high jumper who competed for Cyprus internationally since 2023 after obtaining Cypriot citizenship in 2019. The Cypriot high jumper was chosen as one of the flagbearer for Cyprus at the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics and slated to meet Mahuchikh in the high jump event at the Summer Games.[140]
Assisting Ukraine's war needs
In November 2023, Mahuchikh supported the Ukrainian art project "Stolen art", established by United24 and the Oliz brand to draw attention to the destruction of Ukrainian culture.[141]
In August 2024, after her win at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Mahuchikh transferred a portion of her prize money to animal rights groups and military needs in her country. She donated 1 million hryvnas to animal rescue organisation Uanimals and four shelters: Sumy Society for the Protection of Animals,[142] "Pegas" in Dnipro, "Homeless World" and "Dnipro Animals Foundation".[143] She also donated 500 thousand hryvnas to the military's Azov's Angels Patronage Service and another 500 thousand hryvnas to the Hospitallers to fund the treatment and recovery of wounded soldiers with head injuries.[144][4] Later, Ukrainian influencer and blogger Ihor Lachenkov in Telegram announced Mahuchikh's donation of 1 million hryvnas to provide vehicles for combat units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the front line.[145]
In October 2024, Mahuchikh told Tribuna, a Ukrainian sports publishing house, in an interview that she donated her 2024 Paris Olympics competition bib to the "Heroes Cup" charity auction where it was sold for 300,000 hryvnas (UAH) to help with military rebuilding effort.[146] In the same month, Mahuchikh took part in the 18th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Sport, held in Porto, where she made a speech about the Ukrainian sport during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[147][148] Later that month, Mahuchikh became an ambassador of the Ukrainian National project "Vriatyi Kintsivky" (Save Limb), dedicated to the rehabilitation of Ukrainian Armed Forces troops.[149]
She is currently dating Nazar Stepanov, a Ukrainian hurdler and their national record holder, who is the son of Mahuchikh's coach Tetiana Stepanova.[183] In November 2023, Mahuchikh said in her interview that she was engaged to Nazar.[184] In October 2024, Mahuchikh told Athletistic in an interview that she had to postpone her wedding with Nazar because they wanted to hold their wedding with relatives and friends, then scattered all over the world, gathered in Ukraine, where it was impossible to do so because of the Russian invasion.[185]
Mahuchikh picked up the hobby of reading since young. She read Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling to improve her english. Besides fantasy, she read other genres such as science fiction, romance and crime fiction. Besides novels, she liked books that chronicled successful companies such as Netflix and Starbucks as well as biographies of successful people such as Will Smith and Coco Chanel.[186] One of her favourite read was “Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time” by Howard Schultz.[13]
.jpg)
_Tokyo_2020.jpg)
