Yaroslava Mahuchikh continued to build her impressive legacy by successfully defending her women’s high jump title at Roma 2024. Despite challenging weather conditions, the 22-year-old world champion, recognizable by her blue and yellow eye shadow, remained determined to claim gold.
Entering the competition at 1.90m, Mahuchikh chose to skip the 1.93m height. She cleared 1.95m on her first attempt, reducing the field to three athletes: Serbia’s Angelina Topic, a silver medalist from Munich two years ago, and her fellow Ukrainian, Iryna Gerashchenko. Both competitors had already accumulated failures.
Gerashchenko bowed out after three unsuccessful tries at 1.97m but earned a well-deserved bronze medal, improving on her fifth-place finish in Munich 2022, and previous fourth and fifth places at the World Championships and Tokyo Olympics.
Topic demonstrated her resilience by clearing 1.97m on her third attempt. However, Mahuchikh’s flawless jumps at 1.97m and 1.99m created a nearly insurmountable lead. When the bar was raised to 2.01m, Mahuchikh succeeded on her second attempt, while Topic was unable to clear it after three tries, securing yet another title for the Ukrainian.
This competition marked another milestone in Topic’s burgeoning career. As the European U20 and U18 champion and a bronze medalist in Munich 2022 at just 17, she continues to show great promise and is expected to be a strong rival for Mahuchikh in future events.
