Yaroslava Mahuchikh

Yaroslava Oleksiyivna Mahuchikh (Ярослава Олексіївна Магучіх; ; born 19 September 2001) is a Ukrainian high jumper and women's high jump world record holder. She was the 2020 Summer Olympics bronze medalist, 2019 and 2022 World Championships silver medalist, 2023 World Championships gold medalist, 2022 World Indoor Championships gold medalist, and 2024 World Indoor Championships silver medalist.

At the 2024 Paris Diamond League, she broke the world record in the event with a jump of 2.10 m.

Career
Yaroslava Mahuchikh started the high jump at the age of 13, and she was able to improve significantly in two years. In 2016, she won the gold medal at the Ukrainian National Juniors Athletics Championships, held in Zaporizhzhia. At the age of 15, she won the gold medal at the 2017 IAAF World U18 Championships in Nairobi by the largest margin in World U18 Championships history with her personal best of 1.92 m. She equaled the championship record of her compatriot Iryna Kovalenko from 2003 and set an unofficial world record for a 15-year-old. 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.

In 2018, Mahuchikh cleared 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. 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. 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.

During the 2019 indoor season, Mahuchikh jumped 1.99 m at the Miloslava Hübnerová Memorial in Hustopeče and equaled Vashti Cunningham's U20 world record. In the outdoor season, 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. In September, she jumped 1.89 m at the Diamond League Final in Brussels, finishing in sixth place. Later that month, she jumped 2.04 m at the World Championships in Doha, winning the silver medal and breaking the world U20 record. Mahuchikh was voted the European Athletics Female Rising Star and World Athletics Female Rising Star that year.

In January 2020, Mahuchikh jumped 2.01 m in Lviv, a new world U20 indoor record, which she broke again a few days later when she jumped over 2.02 m in Karlsruhe. She was the overall winner of the World Indoor Tour in February.

In February 2021, Mahuchikh cleared 2.06 m at Banská Bystrica, the highest any woman had jumped indoors since 2012 and a Ukrainian national record. In March, she won the gold medal at the European Indoor Championships. In July, she won the gold medal at the European U23 Championships. In August, Mahuchikh won the bronze medal in the high jump at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In September, she won the silver medal at the Diamond League Final in Zürich with a jump of 2.03 m.

In March 2022, days after fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mahuchikh claimed the gold medal in the high jump at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. She had to undertake a three-day journey of 2000 km by car from Ukraine to Serbia to compete at the championships. Afterwards, she moved to Germany to train while the war continued in her country. Later that year, Mahuchikh won the silver medal at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, and the gold medal at the European Championships in Munich. In September, she won the high jump at the Brussels Diamond League meeting with a world-leading 2.05 m, which is also a Ukrainian national record. Later that month, she won the Diamond League Final in Zürich with a jump of 2.03 m, 9 cm ahead of her nearest competitors. Mahuchikh won five of the seven Diamond League high jump events in 2022.

In March 2023, Mahuchikh won the gold medal at the European Indoor Championships. In June, she won the gold medal at the European Games. The following month, she won the gold medal at the World Championships. In September, she won the gold medal at the Diamond League Final with a world-leading mark of 2.03 m, becoming a twice Diamond League winner firstly in Ukrainian history. Mahuchikh was nominated for Women’s World Athlete of the Year 2023 according to IAAF, and Women’s European Athlete of the Year according to European Athletic Association.

In January 2024, she cleared a world-leading jump of 2.04 m at the Internationales Springer-Meeting in Cottbus. In February, she debuted competing at the Millrose Games, where she won the gold medal with a jump of 2.00 metres. In March, Mahuchikh won the silver medal at the World Indoor Championships. In June, she won the gold medal at the European Championships in Rome, Italy, becoming twice European champion.

In July 2024 she broke the world record in high jump by jumping 2.10 metres at the Wanda Diamond League in Paris. The previous record (2.09) was one of the longest-standing on the books, set by Stefka Kostadinova at the 1987 World Championships.

Recognition

 * European Athlete of the Year: Women's Rising Star (2019)
 * World Athlete of the Year: Women's Rising Star (2019)
 * Order_of_Princess_Olha_3rd_Class_of_Ukraine.png Member 3rd Class of the Order of Princess Olga (2021)
 * Order_of_Princess_Olha_2nd_Class_of_Ukraine.png Member 2nd Class of the Order of Princess Olga (2023)
 * Forbes 30 Under 30 (Europe, Sports & Games) (2024)