Yaroslava Mahuchikh

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Oleksiivna and the family name is Mahuchikh.

Yaroslava Mahuchikh

Mahuchikh at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Native name	Ярослава Олексіївна Магучіх
Full name	Yaroslava Oleksiivna Mahuchikh
Nationality	Ukrainian
Born	(2001-09-19) 19 September 2001 Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	55 kg (121 lb)
Sport
Country	Ukraine
Sport	Athletics
Event	High jump
Coached by	Tetiana Stepanova Serhii Stepanov
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	2020 Tokyo High jump,  Bronze 2024 Paris High jump,  Gold
World finals	2019 Doha High jump,  Silver 2022 Eugene High jump,  Silver 2023 Budapest High jump,  Gold
Highest world ranking	1st (2022-now)
Personal bests	High jump: Outdoor 2.10 m (6 ft 10+1⁄2 in) WR (Paris 2024) Indoor 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) NR (Banská Bystrica 2021)
Medal record Senior level Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 0 1 World Championships 1 2 0 World Indoor Championships 1 1 0 Diamond League Final 3 1 0 World Athletics Indoor Tour 1 0 0 European Championships 2 0 0 European Indoor Championships 2 0 0 European Games 1 0 0 Total 12 4 1 Women's athletics Representing Ukraine Olympic Games 2024 Paris High jump 2020 Tokyo High jump World Championships 2023 Budapest High jump 2019 Doha High jump 2022 Eugene High jump World Indoor Championships 2022 Belgrade High jump 2024 Glasgow High jump Diamond League Final 2021 High jump 2022 High jump 2023 High jump 2024 High jump World Athletics Indoor Tour 2020 High jump European Championships 2022 Munich High jump 2024 Rome High jump European Games 2023 Chorzów High jump European Indoor Championships 2021 Torun High jump 2023 Istanbul High jump European U23 Championships 2021 Tallinn High jump European U20 Championships 2019 Borås High jump Youth Olympic Games 2018 Buenos Aires High jump World U18 Championships 2017 Nairobi High jump European Youth Olympic Festival 2017 Győr High jump European U18 Championships 2018 Győr High jump Event 1st 2nd 3rd Diamond League Series 19 4 3 World Indoor Tour Meetings 4 0 0 Total 23 4 3

Yaroslava Oleksiivna Mahuchikh (Template:Lang-uk; pronounced [jarosˈɫawa maˈɦutʃix]; born 19 September 2001) is a Ukrainian high jumper and women's high jump world record holder. She won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics, 2023 World Championships and 2022 World Indoor Championships. Mahuchikh is also the 2020 Summer Olympics bronze medalist, 2019 and 2022 World Championships silver medalist and 2024 World Indoor Championships silver medalist. She is a three-times Diamond League title holder.

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

Early life

Mahuchikh was born on 19 September 2001 in Dnipropetrovsk (now - Dnipro). Her father was a canoeist, her mother was a gymnast and did athletics. She began doing sports at the age of seven. Prior to focusing on the high jump, her older sister Anastasiia Hryhorovych accompanied Yaroslava to karate classes. But Yaroslava didn't like karate, so she began doing athletics, where Olena Kutsenko was her sister's coach. Yaroslava competed in the sprints, hurdles and long jump, until her current coach Tetiana Stepanova was coming to the sports school No. 3 in Dnipro in 2014, where Mahuchikh was training. Then Mahuchikh began to concentrate on high jump, achieving major results. Yaroslava also got about singing and drawing, competing at different art and singing competitions from 2015 until 2016.

Career

Youth and junior 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. 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.

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.

2019: First medal at the World Championships and new world junior record

Mahuchikh at the 2019 World Athletics Championships

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.

2021: First Olympic medal

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.

2022: First World Indoor Championships gold medal and first Diamond League title

Mahuchikh at the 2022 European Athletics Championships

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. With Andrii Protsenko, Yaroslava was a finalist of International Fair Play Committee (CIFP) Fair Play Award. Mahuchikh was firstly nominated for Women’s World Athlete of the Year 2022 according to IAAF.

2023: First senior World Championships gold medal and second Diamond League title

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 at the second time in her career, and Women’s European Athlete of the Year according to European Athletic Association. Mahuchikh was also a nominee for International Female Athlete of the Year 2023 of Athletics Weekly (Readers' Choice Awards).

2024: New senior world record and first Olympic gold medal

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.

In August 2024, Mahuchikh won the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Paris, jumping 2.00 metres and becoming an Olympic champion. It was Ukraine’s first individual gold of these Summer Games, following a victory in women’s team sabre fencing. Mahuchikh became a third Ukrainian Olympic champion in athletics after long and triple jumper Inessa Kravets and pentathlon athlete Nataliya Dobrynska. Mahuchikh also became the first Ukrainian sportswoman to win the Youth Olympic Games and Olympic Games. After the qualification and final event, Time, The New York Times and other world mass media wrote about her sleeping during jump breaks, which caused her gold medal at these Summer Olympics, and she became a hero of memes.

On 22 August 2024, she won the post-Olympic Diamond League stage Athletissima in Lausanne by jumping 1.99 metres.

In September 2024, Mahuchikh won the Diamond League stage Weltklasse Zürich with a clearance of 1.96 m. On 13 September, Mahuchikh won the Diamond League Final in Brussels by jumping 1.97 metres and winning a third Diamond League title in her career. At the second time in her career, Mahuchikh is nominated for Women’s European Athlete of the Year 2024 according to European Athletic Association.

Controversy with Lasitskene

After the final event at the 2020 Summer Olympics Yaroslava congratulated Russian high jumper and Olympic champion Mariya Lasitskene for her win and hugged her. It caused a controversy among Ukrainians because Lasitskene was a senior lieutenant of the Russian Armed Forces and Mahuchikh shouldn't communicate with Russian Army representatives during the Russo-Ukrainian War. 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. Mahuchikh herself explained that the photo with Lasitskene had no political intent.

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. This photo was published by Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers in Instagram.

After the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mahuchikh said that she regretted the photo with Lasitskene during the 2020 Summer Olympics and that Lasitskene wasn't her idol anymore.

Philanthropy

After her win at the 2024 Summer Olympics Mahuchikh transferred a portion of her prize money to the society for the animals protection in Sumy, shelter "Pegas" in Dnipro, shelter "Homeless World" and "Dnipro Animals Foundation". She also donated 500 thousand hryvnas to the military patronage service "Angels of Azov".

Later, Ukrainian influencer and blogger Ihor Lachenkov in Telegram announced Yaroslava's donation of 1 million hryvnas to vehicles for combat units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the front line.

International competitions

Representing Ukraine

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Result	Notes
2017	World U18 Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	1st	1.92 m	CR
	European Youth Olympics	Győr, Hungary	1st	1.89 m
2018	European U18 Championships	Győr, Hungary	1st	1.94 m	CR
	Youth Olympic Games	Buenos Aires, Argentina	1st	1.92 m + 1.95 m
2019	European U20 Championships	Borås, Sweden	1st	1.92 m
	Diamond League Final	Brussels, Belgium	6th	1.89 m
	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	2nd	2.04 m	WJR
2021	European Indoor Championships	Toruń, Poland	1st	2.00 m
	European U23 Championships	Tallinn, Estonia	1st	2.00 m	CR
	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	3rd	2.00 m
	Diamond League Final	Zürich, Switzerland	2nd	2.03 m
2022	World Indoor Championships	Belgrade, Serbia	1st	2.02 m
	World Championships	Eugene, USA	2nd	2.02 m
	European Championships	Munich, Germany	1st	1.95 m
	Diamond League Final	Zürich, Switzerland	1st	2.03 m
2023	European Indoor Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	1st	1.98 m
	European Games	Chorzów, Poland	1st	1.97 m
	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	1st	2.01 m
	Diamond League Final	Eugene, USA	1st	2.03 m
2024	World Indoor Championships	Glasgow, United Kingdom	2nd	1.97 m
	European Championships	Rome, Italy	1st	2.01 m
	Olympic Games	Paris, France	1st	2.00 m
	Diamond League Final	Brussels, Belgium	1st	1.97 m

National championships

Yaroslava Mahuchikh has won the individual national championship 3 times.

• 1 win in High jump outdoor (2021)
• 2 wins in High jump indoor (2020, 2021)

Personal bests

Event	Best	Venue	Date
High jump (outdoor)	2.10 m (6 ft 10+1⁄2 in)	Paris, France	7 July 2024
High jump (indoor)	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	Banská Bystrica, Slovakia	2 February 2021
Sources:

Personal life

She is currently dating Nazar Stepanov, a Ukrainian hurdler and a national record holder, who is a son of Yaroslava's coach Tetiana Stepanova. In November 2023, Mahuchikh said in her interview that she was engaged to Nazar.

Mahuchikh is also an ambassador of Puma and Omega SA.

Recognition

• European Athlete of the Year: Women's Rising Star (2019)
• World Athlete of the Year: Women's Rising Star (2019)
• Best Athlete of the Year and Women’s Rising Star according to Ukrainian Athletic Federation (2019)
• The EOC Piotr Nurowski Prize for Best European Young Athlete (2019)
• European Athlete of the Year: Women's Rising Star according to ABAF (2019)
• Top 15 of the greatest teenage athletes in the world by Business Insider (2019)
• 30 under 30: Faces of the Future by Forbes Ukraine (2020)
• Best Athlete of the Year according to Ukrainian Athletic Federation (2021)
• Member 3rd Class of the Order of Princess Olga (2021)
• European Athlete of the Month for January 2021 of the European Athletic Association
• European Athlete of the Month for March 2022 of the European Athletic Association
• Member 2nd Class of the Order of Princess Olga (2023)
• Best Athlete of the Year according to National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (2023)
• Forbes 30 Under 30 (Europe, Sports & Games) (2024)
• Top 100 most influential Ukrainians according to The New Voice of Ukraine and Focus (2024)
• Member 1st Class of the Order of Princess Olga (2024)

See also

• List of Youth Olympic Games gold medalists who won Olympic gold medals
• Female two metres club

External links

• Yaroslava Mahuchikh at World Athletics
• Yaroslava Mahuchikh at European Athletics
• Yaroslava Mahuchikh in Instagram