In early July, Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh was winning another event as she was preparing for the Paris Olympics. After beating competition in the sector, Mahuchikh went for the world record, in place for over 35 years, with few coming close to challenge it.
Mahuchikh took it from the first try at the age of 22, becoming the best women's high jumper in history.
For years, Mahuchikh has been the main star of a sports discipline where Ukraine expects the highest achievements. Ukraine won the maximum number of place quotas for both the men's and women's high jump at the 2024 Paris Olympics – three each. The only country to do so.
Mahuchikh will compete in Paris at her second Olympics, entering the event as top favorite.
Since 2013, Ukrainian high jumpers have won at least one medal at every World Championship and every Olympics, with Mahuchikh taking bronze in Tokyo at the age of 19.
With little expectations set for Ukraine's track and field, there's one discipline where everything except gold would be a failure – high jump.
Kateryna Denisova
First Olympic medal in high jump
Ukrainians athletes were always good at reaching new heights, with the country's two main sporting disciplines being the high jump and pole vault.
The history of Ukraine's high jump success began with Inga Babakova, born in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, who became the first Ukrainian Olympic medalist back in 1996, clearing 2.01 m.
But Babakova, whose national record of 2.05m stood for 26 years, said in an interview with Sport24 that she hates this medal. Even so many years later, the Ukrainian athlete blames herself for not winning in Atlanta.
"I have to say that I would trade all the medals I have collected throughout my career for a single Olympic gold," Babakova said.
Babakova, who has five world championship medals, including gold in the 1999 World Championships, recalled with relief the collapse of the Soviet team, which marked the beginning of a new era for Ukrainian athletics.
"Ukraine took part in the 1996 Summer Olympics for the first time as a sovereign state. Not all Ukrainians had a place in the USSR national team," she said, adding: "Russians took the leading roles, and our athletes were openly and brutally crushed (by them)."
"Therefore, when Ukraine gained independence, our athletes had a great chance to make a name for themselves on the international stage," Babakova added.
After Babakova retired in 2004, Ukraine struggled to regain momentum. From 2005 to 2013, only Yuriy Krymarenko unexpectedly won gold at the World Championships.
Then, the golden era began.
Historic heights
Looking into the top ten best results in the sport, for both men and women, Ukrainians dominate the field.
Two Ukrainian athletes – Andrii Protsenko and Bohdan Bondarenko – cleared 2.40m.
Only Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim (2.43m) and Cuba's world record holder Javier Sotomayor (2.45m) jumped higher than Bondarenko, whose personal record remains 2.42m.
In 2014, Bondarenko became a world champion, and two years later, he won bronze at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. For Protsenko, the path to the top was rockier.
With the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Protsenko of Kherson found himself in the Russian-occupied territories. Protsenko trained in his backyard with tires instead of weights and garden tools instead of athletics hurdles.
Protsenko managed to escape the occupation with his family in late March 2022, missing almost all the basic training for the summer season. Despite that, 34-year-old Protsenko won bronze at the World Championships the same year.
This year, Protsenko will also compete at the Olympics in Paris. He has missed almost all international competitions during the season, preparing for the main event in the French capital.
Protsenko, aged 36, nearing retirement, hopes to surprise his opponents at his fourth Olympics.
"I understand that not every season goes perfectly. The more time goes by, the older I get, the harder it is to get in shape," he said in an interview with Suspilne Sport.
"But I realize I still have something to show and can represent the country."
While Protsenko won't be considered a favorite any more, a bronze might be within reach.
Kateryna Hodunova
Phenomenon of Yaroslava Mahuchikh
Following nearly a decade of Ukraine's men high jumpers leading the way in hopes for Olympic gold, the situation has drastically changed.
Child prodigy Yaroslava Mahuchikh started setting world records and winning gold medals in their youth.
At the age of 17, she became the youngest winner of a prestigious Diamond League event, while at the age of 18, she surpassed the 2-meter mark for the first time.
Over the next four years, Mahuchikh broke Babakova's national record, won her debut World Championship gold, and set a new world record, which had stood for 37 years.
Following this success, Bulgaria's Stefka Kostadinova, whose record fell to Mahuchikh, congratulated the Ukrainian, adding that Mahuchikh had once again demonstrated that "human capabilities are limitless."
For Mahuchikh, this achievement was overshadowed by a tragedy the day after the record was set. On July 8, Russian forces launched a mass missile attack on Ukraine, hitting the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv, among other facilities.
At least 47 people were killed, while almost 200 suffered injuries in the cities of Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih, Sloviansk, Pokrovsk, and Mahuchikh's native city Dnipro.
"No record will bring joy when Russia attacks my country every day, killing our soldiers and taking the lives of children and their parents," Mahuchikh wrote that day on her Instagram.
Mahuchikh is heading into the Paris Olympics as the main favorite and with enormous pressure of delivering the much desired gold.
The situation is eased by the fact that Mahuchikh's main competitor Russian Mariya Lasitskene is banned from the event.
In Tokyo, the Ukrainian finished third, while Lasitskene took gold.
Lasitskene, a captain of the Russian Armed Forces, was one of the leading frontrunners in the field until World Athletics suspended Russia entirely for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
After the all-war broke out, Mahuchikh said that she "no longer wanted to see the murderers compete" and that she "had lost an idol."
"Now I compete, realizing I am an idol for many Ukrainian high jumpers. And I want to get better for their sake," she told NRK in July 2022.
Mahuchikh, who is looked up to by many Ukrainian athletes and those who watch her perform, will now attempt to become the first gold medalist from Ukraine in the high jump competition at the Olympics.
The final in Paris with Mahuchikh and another Ukrainian, Iryna Gerashchenko, will take place on Aug. 4.
Kateryna Hodunova
