Yaroslava Mahuchikh Kicks Off 2024 Season With Impressive High Jump Victory in Stockholm
Stockholm, Sweden – Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh made a strong start to her 2024 campaign, clinching victory in the women’s high jump at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on Sunday.
The reigning high jump world champion has firmly established herself as the dominant force in the discipline in recent years. Since her breakout season in 2021, Mahuchikh has captured the Diamond League series title in both 2022 and 2023, racking up an impressive nine victories from 15 competitions.
“I am ready to jump high,” she declared ahead of the BAUHAUS-Galan meeting.
However, the pressure was on as Mahuchikh headed into her first outing of the new season. Not only was she facing long-time rival Nicola Olyslagers, but the Ukrainian had also opted to delay her competitive start in order to focus on refining her run-up during training. This meant Serbian prodigy Angelina Topic had stolen an early march, winning the opening two Diamond League meetings in Doha and Marrakech.
With the Olympics looming, Mahuchikh was determined to send a statement of intent in Stockholm. And that’s exactly what she delivered, clearing 2.00m on her second attempt to reach the two-meter milestone for the tenth time in her Diamond League career.
After two unsuccessful tries at 2.03m, Mahuchikh then decided to retire from the competition due to some discomfort in her hamstring. Nevertheless, her 2.00m clearance stood as the highest outdoor mark achieved so far in 2024, securing a vital opening victory on the Road to the Final.
“I was very excited about this competition because it was my first in a really important year,” Mahuchikh reflected. “2.00m is not an excellent result, but it’s a great start.”
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