Yaroslava Oleksiyivna Mahuchikh (Ukrainian: Ярослава Олексіївна Магучіх; pronounced [Jarosˈɫava Maˈɦutʃix]; born 19 September 2001) is a Ukrainian high jumper. In her Olympic debut she took the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She is the gold medalist at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and World and European champion at the U18 level. At the 2019 World Championships she won the silver medal, setting the new World junior record.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh started the high jump at the age of 13, but she was able to improve significantly in two years.[3] 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 equalled the championship record of her compatriot Iryna Kovalenko from 2003 and set an unofficial World record for a 15-year-old.[4] A few weeks later she won the high jump event at the 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival in Győr with a clearance of 1.89 m.[5]
In 2018, Mahuchikh cleared 1.94 m at the European U18 Championships and won the gold medal with 10 centimeters ahead of the runner-up, setting a new championship record.[6] In mid-October she won the gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires with the combined height of 3.87 m and set a new personal best of 1.95 m at stage 2.[7] A month after her youth Olympic success, Mahuchikh improved her personal best to 1.96 m and equalled the World U18 best in an annual indoor meeting in Minsk.[8]
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.[9] In the outdoor season, she won the opening meeting of the 2019 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.[10] In September she jumped 2.04 m at the World Championships in Doha, winning the silver medal and breaking the world U20 record.
In January 2020 Mahuchikh jumped 2.01 m in Lviv, a new world U20 indoor record,[11] which she broke again a few days later when she jumped over 2.02 m in Karlsruhe.[12]
In February 2021 Mahuchikh cleared 2.06 m at Banská Bystrica, the highest any woman had jumped indoor since 2012.[13] In August she won the bronze medal in the high jump event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Full name Yaroslava Oleksiyivna Mahuchikh
Nationality Ukrainian
Born 19 September 2001 (age 20)
Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine
Height 181 cm (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Weight 55 kg (121 lb)[1]
from Wikipedia
