Yaroslava Mahuchikh - Know Your Own

In March 2022 she spent three days in a car getting from Dnipro to Belgrade, and there she became world champion. Yaroslava Mahuchikh is the Paris 2024 Olympic champion and the high jump world record holder: 2.10 metres.

Three days on the road to gold

When russia launched its full-scale invasion, Yaroslava Mahuchikh was at home in Dnipro. The World Indoor Championships in Belgrade were only weeks away. She went by car: three days and about 2,000 kilometres through Moldova and Romania to Serbia. In Belgrade Mahuchikh cleared 2.02 m and became world champion.

The girl from Dnipro

Yaroslava Mahuchikh was born in 2001 in Dnipro. In 2019 she won the European junior title, and at the senior World Championships in Doha she came second with 2.04 m, a world record for athletes under 20. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 she won bronze.

2.10 metres

Mahuchikh cleared 2.10 m at a Diamond League meeting in Paris on 7 July 2024 and broke Stefka Kostadinova’s world record, set in 1987. A month later, at the Olympic Games in the same city, she became Olympic champion. She had already won the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, and in 2026 she became world indoor champion for the second time.

Mahuchikh by the scoreboard showing her 2.10 m world record, Paris, 7 July 2024

The first Ultimate champion

Mahuchikh won the European title for the third time in a row in Birmingham in August 2026. Then on 11 September 2026 in Budapest she cleared 1.99 m and became the first ever high jump champion of World Athletics’ new competition, the Ultimate Championship.

A ritual of calm and focus

Between attempts, Mahuchikh lies down to rest in a sleeping bag right next to the high jump area. It is how she relaxes: she counts, follows her breathing or watches the clouds. At the Paris Olympics, photos of her in the sleeping bag went around the world. Her example shows how much it matters to master your emotions and keep a cool head when the stakes are highest.

Why it matters today

In the years of the full-scale war Yaroslava Mahuchikh wins the world’s biggest competitions for Ukraine and carries its name into stadiums around the world. She says herself that she protects her country on the track while the military protects it at home. Her story shows that even with war at home you can hold on to a dream and set the bar higher than anyone. For anyone training in Ukraine today, she is proof that calm, focus and daily work can lead to a world record.