Jaroslava Mahutshih, who only started high jumping at the age of 13, is a real junior star. At the World Championships, the Ukrainian jumper is chasing his first outdoor track championship victory early Wednesday Finnish time.
Two years ago, everything was still relatively good. Ukraine’s 18-year-old high jumping talent Jaroslava Mahutshih answered the interviewer’s questions bravely and cheerfully in the World Athletics video interview.
The interviewer wanted to know from Mahutshih what his hometown is. Mahutshih is from the city of Dnipro. The athlete, who previously answered a little shyly in English, had gained more courage.
– Come to Ukraine. I’ll show you my country, the good-natured Mahutshih enthused.
– Maybe we will have the World Championships in athletics in Ukraine, the interviewer stated.
– Maybe in the future!
On February 24 of this year, Russia started a war of aggression against Ukraine. Like all Ukrainians, Mahutshih’s life also changed.
From war to world championship
When the war started, Mahutshih was in the middle of his reign. The main aim of the season was set at the World Championships in Belgrade held in March.
Despite the dramatic turn, Mahutshih wanted to compete in the World Cup halls. At the beginning of the war, Mahutshih prepared for the games in a bomb shelter. He left Dnipro for safety in the village where his coach lives. Training was allowed to take a break for a while.
Traveling from the country was naturally challenging. However, the preparations for the value race soon began. The three-day and 2,000-kilometer journey through Moldova and Romania to Serbia began.
In light of the statistics, Mahutshih was the favorite to win the World Championships, but due to the dramatic turns, the Ukrainian’s jumping ability was a big question mark. The beginning of the competition was a bit tentative, but he slowly got the hang of it.
Mahutsihih fought for the gold medal against Australia Eleanor Patterson against. The Ukrainian had his third attempt from a height of 200. Considering the World Championship, he had to go over it.
Mahutshih, in his twenties, showed his fierce competitor qualities and cleared the height. He gained more confidence and the next height of 202 went right away in the first over.
Watch Jaroslava Mahutshih’s winning jump at the World Championships in Belgrade below.
The result was World Championship gold. Considering the starting points, Mahutsih’s performance was deafening.
Mahutshih stated after the race that he had given the Ukrainians a little something to be happy about.
– My gold medal showed that the Ukrainians are strong, Mahutshih told the BBC after the race.
Natural talent
As the performance in the World Cup halls shows, Mahutshih is not just any high jumper. The Ukrainian, who only started the sport at the age of 13, is a real junior star.
Before the age of 20, he crossed the two-meter mark no less than 24 times, when other than just the best result of the race are also included. Mahutshih is the overwhelming number one in that statistic.
In addition to the WC indoor gold, he has WC silver and Olympic bronze from the outdoor tracks. Russia is currently closed from international athletics, so the last few years have dominated the sport Maria Lasitskene29, cannot defend his world title.
Mahutshih took a stand on the absence of Russian athletes before the World Championships in Oregon.
In this outdoor track season, Mahutshih, who has jumped the number one result in the world statistics, 203, is aiming for his first major victory in his career on outdoor tracks in Oregon. His record is 206, which he jumped a year ago during the government period, with which he is only two centimeters away from Sweden’s by Kajsa Berqvist of the indoor track world record.
Ex-high jumper Osku Torro considers the Ukrainian jumper a natural talent.
– He runs in an Eastern European style with a huge, wide step. He can run low, typically for a high jumper, which is where he puts in the effort nicely, Torro, who has jumped in several value competitions, estimates.
See Jaroslava Mahutshih’s performance in qualifying for the World Championships in Oregon.
High jump star factory
Ukraine can be called a real star factory of high jump. The country has produced several top jumpers in the 21st century.
On the men’s side Juri Krimarenko won the world championship in Helsinki 2005. In Moscow 2013, achieved the gold medal at the World Championship Bohdan Bondarenko is, on the other hand, one of the best high jumpers of all time. He is third in all men’s statistics with his record 242.
About women Julia Levchenko won the World Championship silver in 2017. Torro, who competed against Krimarenko and Bondarenko, says that in general Eastern Europeans have always been good at high jumping.
– Eastern Europe is a favorable region for high jumping. That’s where the long-bodied good guys come from. Bondarenko’s success has probably partly influenced Ukraine’s high jump.
However, the most talented Ukrainian jumper is Mahutshih. The world record for women’s high jump is held by Bulgaria Stefka Kostadinova 209 made in 1987.
– If at that age you’re only a few centimeters behind the world record, that’s incredible talent. He has been one of my favorite athletes on the women’s side even before the war in Ukraine, says Torro.
According to Torro, the world record is realism for Mahutshih.
– He is one of the most potential 210 jumpers, along with Lasitskene.
With a high probability, Mahutshih will once again bring joy to the Ukrainians in the high altitude finals of the World Championships in Oregon. And that new world record is not far away either.
Mahutshih will compete in the women’s height final early on Wednesday at 3:40 a.m. Finnish time. Live broadcast on TV2, Areena and the app.