Flying high at Weltklasse Zürich 2024
Yaroslava Mahuchikh made high jump history in Paris on 7 July. When clearing 2.10m, the 22-year-old Ukrainian broke a world record that had stood for almost 37 years. At Weltklasse Zürich, the new world record holder will clash with Australian high flyers Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson, and with Serbia's rising star Angelina Topić.
A jump for the history books! Inspired by setting a Ukrainian national record (2.07m) earlier in the season, Yaroslava Mahuchikh cleared the 2.10m in her first attempt at the Paris meeting that served as a final rehearsal for the upcoming Olympic Games. World record! The former record (2.09m) had been achieved by Bulgaria’s then world and later also Olympic champion Stefka Kostadinova at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 30 August 1987.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh defended her European title at the same arena in June this year. And now, the reigning world and European champion, Olympic bronze medallist, and two-time Wanda Diamond league champion is reaching for Olympic gold. If she wins it, she will dedicate her medal to her home country, just as she dedicated her historic world record to Ukraine. In Zurich, the athletics hero, whose make-up always matches the country’s colours, intends to repeat her win in 2023, when she triumphed at the Weltklasse Zürich arena on Sechseläutenplatz (2.03m).
Duel for Oceania’s air sovereignty
The women’s competition at Letzigrund Stadium on 5 September will represent another veritable high jump summit. In addition to Mahuchikh, participants will include world indoor champion and Olympic Silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers (27), as well as Eleonor Patterson (28), world champion in 2022 and world championship silver medallist in 2023. The two Australians have been pushing each other to jump higher and higher, setting new Oceanian records in the process. Currently, Olyslagers, who is based in Switzerland during summers and who keeps tabs on every single one of her jumps, is in the lead (2.03m).
One family, three national records
European U18 and U20 champion Angelina Topić would like to join the exclusive club of 2m jumpers. Her personal best of 1.98m represents a world U20 record. The 19-year-old Serbian star, who likes to dye her hair bright red, is following in the footsteps of her father and coach Dragutin Topić, who had placed fourth in the 2005 men’s high jump competition at Weltklasse Zürich.
Placed fourth yet again, to be precise. He had already achieved the same at the 1996 Olympic Games and at the world championships in 1999. His personal best of 2.38m is still the Serbian national record today. His wife, Biljana Topić, too, still holds a national record, and she placed fourth in the triple jump final of the 2009 world championships. Their record holder daughter Angelina (1.98m), however, has no intentions of continuing the family tradition of placing fourth. So far, she has collected both European championship silver in the high jump and a bronze medal in the long jump.
Which stars will compete at Letzigrund stadium on 5 September? These athletes are already confirmed on the Weltklasse Zürich entry lists.
