Ukraine’s Mahuchikh wins gold, Herashchenko takes bronze in 2024 Olympic high jump

Ukrainian track and field athlete Yaroslava Mahuchikh became the Olympic champion in the high jump, taking first place in the 2024 Olympic Games final. Another Ukrainian jumper, Iryna Herashchenko, won a bronze award.

This is known from the broadcast of Suspilne, Rubryka reports.

Both athletes managed the height of 1.91 m and 1.95 m.

This is the first double podium of Ukraine in the history of athletic Olympic tournaments.

Yaroslava Mahuchikh became the new Olympic champion in the high jump — she took first place in the final of Paris-2024, in which Iryna Herashchenko, another track and field athlete of the Ukrainian national team, won the bronze.

Based on the qualification results, Mahuchikh and Herashchenko made it to the finals among three Ukrainian athletes. Both Ukrainian jumpers flew over the 1.95-meter bar in the selection—the current world champion, Mahuchikh, managed it with two jumps.

Eleven athletes performed in the final. Two jumpers did not start in the sector: European vice-champion Angelina Topic withdrew from the competition due to an injury, and Brazilian Valdileia Martins did not make it to the medal round.

The main competition for the Ukrainian athletes in the finals were representatives of Australia: the 2022 world champion Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olislagers, the current vice-champion of the Games, who was ahead of Mahuchikh in the Tokyo 2020 final.

On her first attempt, Iryna Herashchenko conquered the starting bar of 1.86 meters. Yaroslava Maguchih postponed her start to 1.91 meters.

Iryna Herashchenko Photo: REUTERS/Alina SmutkoFive jumpers overcame 191 cm with one jump: Mahuchikh and Herashchenko confidently crossed the bar, which was also overcome by Australians Olislagers, Patterson, and German Christina Gonzel.

The bar, at a height of 1.95 meters, wobbled under both Australian jumpers. Mahuchikh crossed the barrier with a margin and later joined her compatriot, Herashchenko. A total of eight athletes moved to the next height.

Only two jumpers—Mahuchikh and Olislagers—were able to overcome 1.98 meters. For the first time in the final, Herashchenko failed to clear the bar, and she did not use the next two attempts. The Ukrainian shared third place with Patterson and won her debut Olympic bronze.

The face-to-face fight for gold between Mahuchikh and Olislagers began at a height of 2.00 meters. She took the lead and flew over the bar on the first attempt, while the Australian needed three jumps to clear 2.02 m.

Both athletes cleared the 2.02-meter bar twice. The decisive third jump determined the fate of the championship: Olislagers did not realize hers, and Mahuchikh became the Olympic champion for the first time in her career.

Mahuchikh continued the competition at a height of 2.04 meters — the Ukrainian was two centimeters short of the 2004 Olympic record — but she did not make her only attempt and ended the championship final.

Olympics-2024. High jump — final

1. Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine) — 2.00 meters
2. Nikola Olislagers (Australia) — 2.00 m
3. Iryna Herashchenko (Ukraine) — 1.95 m
3. Eleanor Patterson (Australia) — 1.95 m

Reference

Yaroslava Mahuchikh, a native of Dnipro, is the world record holder in the high jump and the champion of Ukraine (2021), Europe (2022, 2024), and the planet (2023).

As a child, she also ran hurdles and long jumps. The first international success came in 2018 when she won the European Youth Championship with a record height of 1.94 m. In May 2019, she became the youngest-ever winner of the Diamond League stage. She won bronze at the 2020 Olympic Games.

She triumphed twice in the Diamond League finals (2022, 2023). At the elite competitions in Paris this year, she broke the world record (2.09 m), which belonged to the Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova, 37 years old. New record from Mahuchikh is 2.10 m.

Achievements of Ukraine at the 2024 Olympics

We will remind you that on July 26, the opening ceremony of the XXXIII Summer Olympic Games was held in the capital of France, Paris, officially kicking off the biggest sports event in the world. This year, for the first time, the celebrations were held not at the stadium but on the water. The 2024 Olympic Games will be held from July 26 to August 11.

• On July 29, saber athlete Olha Kharlan brought Ukraine the first medal of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris—she won the "bronze" medal in the individual saber fencing tournament.
• On August 1, Serhii Kulish won silver in rifle shooting from three positions at 50 m, giving Ukraine the second award of the 2024 Games.
• On August 2, boxer Oleksandr Khyzhniak had a successful fight to reach the semi-finals of the 2024 Olympics, which guaranteed him a medal. Khyzhniak fought against Brazilian Wanderlei de Souza Pereira. The match ended with a unanimous decision of the judges in favor of the Ukrainian.
• On August 3, in the finals of the 2024 Olympics, Ukraine won a gold medal in saber fencing in the women's team event. For the first time, the Ukrainian national anthem was played during the award ceremony for the winners.