“I must protect our country on track” – Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh clinches gold at World Indoor Championships 

“I must protect our country on track” – Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh clinches gold at World Indoor Championships 

Yaroslava Mahuchikh

Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh overcame the “total panic” of armed conflict in her native place to win gold at the World Indoor Championships on Saturday. The 20-year-old earlier surprised all with a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last month, Mahuchikh was forced to flee her home, hide out in a cellar. She eventually made the 2,000km trip over three days to Belgrade to face what she dubbed her front line in Belgrade, Serbia.

“This medal is for Ukraine, all my country, all my people, all the military. I must protect our country on the track in an international arena.”

FS Video

“They killed our people and they killed our nation and they killed our children, the future of Ukraine,” Mahuchikh said of Russian military actions in her home country.

She added: “I don’t know what they want because we enjoy our life in Ukraine. I think a lot of people in Russia must understand that this war in Ukraine is true. I know that a lot of Russian people said that it’s all fake, the videos are all fake, but a lot of our cities have been destroyed, how was that fake?”

Yaroslava needed three days and hundreds of phone calls to reach Belgrade

Yaroslava Mahuchikh
Yaroslava Mahuchikh

Mahuchikh, who overcame three failed jumps before sailing over 2.02m, received a standing ovation following her victory. On the other hand, teammate Iryna Gerashchenko, who fled Kyiv with her husband and dog amid “everything at once: bombs and rockets” but no kit, finished a respectable fifth.

“Before we went to the field, the only thought in my mind was about Ukraine because too many terrible things have happened there,” Mahuchikh said afterwards.

“I even doubted that I could jump at all, but my coach said I must go out and perform with the shape and fitness I had before the start of the Russian invasion.”

Also Read | Yaroslava Mahuchikh clears a world-leading height of 2.03m in high jump