Yaroslava Oleksiyivna Mahuchikh is a celebrated Ukrainian athlete who specializes in high jump. She is the current women’s high jump world record holder set in July 2024.
Mahuchikh made her international breakthrough in July 2017 at the World U18 Championship in Nairobi, winning the gold medal at just age 15. Moreover, she won her second gold in a month at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Gyor. The following year, she won two more gold medals at the Youth Olympics and World U18 Championships.
2019 proved to be her greatest year when she set an outdoor personal best to win the Doha Diamond League meet. Consequently, at 17 years and 226 days, she made history as the youngest athlete ever to win an event in the Diamond League. Moreover, she won gold at the European U20 Championships in Boras and silver at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Owing to her unmatched success, Yaroslava was voted as both the European and World Women’s Rising Star of the Year 2019.
Following her monumental success in her career, the Ukrainian superstar was awarded Member of Third Class of the Order of Princess Olga in 2021 which would be in 2023 upgraded to Second Class. She was as well featured in 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Europe, Sports and Games) list.
Age and Birthplace
Having came to the world on 19 September 2001 at Dnipro, Ukraine, Yaroslava is 22 years old as of 2024.
Height
The high jump champion is approximately 180 cm (5 feet and 11 inches) tall.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh Family
The gifted athlete’s parents are Oleksiy Makhuchikh and Olha Makhuchikh.
Little to no information about her family is available at the moment. However, we are keeping in tabs and will update you soonest.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh Career
Junior level
Career start and breakthrough: 2015-2017
The Ukrainian wonder girl kicked-off her career in 2015 at the age of 13 years and developed rapidly. She won her first gold medal at the Ukrainian National Juniors Athletics Championships in 2016 at only 14 years of age. Yaroslava made her international breakthrough in July 2017, winning gold at the World U18 Championships in Nairobi. Consequently, she attained a personal best of 1.92 m and the world’s best performance ever by a 15 year old. Hardly two weeks later, she cleared 1.89 m at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Gyor to win another gold medal.
Youth Championship record and youngest Diamond League winner: 2018-2019
At the July 2018 European U18 Championships in Gyor, the youthful Mahuchikh made a 1.94 clearance as she took gold and set a new Championship record. During the October 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Yaroslava jumped 1.95 m as she improved her personal best on her way to winning the events gold medal. She bettered it to 1.96 to equal the World U18 record later in the year at an indoor meeting in Minsk.
In the 2019 indoor season, at the Miloslava Hubnerova Memorial, the Ukrainian prospect cleared 1.99 m to match the world U20 record. In the outdoor season, she registered an outdoor personal best of 1.96 m to win the Diamond League opening meet at Doha. At 17 years and 226 days, Yaroslava made history as the youngest athlete to ever win a Diamond League event.
Senior level
World U20 record, national record and fleet from war: 2019-2022
At her debut senior competition at the Doha 2019 World Championships, Mahuchikh cleared 2.04 m to win silver as well as break the world U20 record. Following her outstanding performance throughout the season, she was voted the both European and World Athletics Female Rising Star of the Year.
In 2020, Yaroslava set an indoor record at 2.01 m in Lviv in January. She pushed it further to 2.02 m in Karisruhe. In February, the Ukrainian won the World Indoor Tour. At Banska Bystrica in February 2021, she jumped 2.06 m becoming the highest jump by a woman since 2012. Moreover, she set an Ukrainian record. She won gold medals at both the European Indoor Championships and European U23 Championships in March and July respectively. Mahuchikh as well won bronze and Silver medals at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics in August and the Diamond League Final in Zurich in September respectively.
Only few days after fleeing Russian invasion to her homeland, Yaroslava won gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March 2022. She later settled in Germany where she continued with her training. In July, She claimed gold at the European Championships in Munich and silver at the Eugene World Championships.
Two-time Diamond League winner, Athlete of the Year nominations and World record : 2023-present
In 2023, the high jump pro won gold at both the European Indoor Championships in March and the European Games in June. The following month, she won gold at the World Championships. Furthermore, in September, Yaroslava won gold medal at the Diamond League Final making history as a two-time Diamond League winner, the first Ukrainian do so. She was nominated for both the Women’s European Athlete of the Year and Women’s World Athlete of the Year 2023.
At the Internationales Springer-Meeting in Cottbus held in January 2024, Yarislava cleared a world-leading high of 2.04. The following month, she won gold at her debut participation at the Millrose Games after jumping 2.00 m. In March, she won silver at the World Indoor Championships. At the European Championships held in Rome in June, Mahuchikh won gold to become a two-time European champion.
At the Wanda Diamond League in Paris, Yaroslava jumped 2.10 m to set a new world record, breaking the longest-standing record of 2.09 m set in 1987.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh Achievements, Awards and Medals
Achievements
- Highest world ranking: First (2023)
- Personal bests: Outdoor 2.10 m World Record (Paris 2024), Indoor 2.06 m National Record (Banska Bystrica 2021)
Awards
- Forbes 30 Under 30 (Europe Sports and Games): 2024
- Member Second Class of the Order of the Princess Olga: 2023
- Member Third Class of the Order of the Princess Olga: 2021
- World Athletics Women’s Rising Star of the Year: 2019
- European Athletics Women’s Rising Star of the Year: 2019
Medals
Junior level
- European U18 Championships: Gold (Gyor 2017)
- European Youth Olympic Festival: Gold (Gyor 2017)
- World U18 Championships: Gold (Nairobi 2017)
- Youth Olympic Games: Gold (Buenos Aires 2018)
Senior level
- European U20 Championships: Gold (Boras 2019)
- Olympic Games: Bronze (Tokyo 2020)
- World Athletics Indoor Tour: First (2020)
- European U23 Championships: Gold (Tallinn 2021)
- European Indoor Championships: 2X Gold (Torun 2021, 2023 Istanbul)
- World Indoor Championships: Gold (2022 Belgrade), Silver (2024 Glasgow)
- European Championships: 2X Gold (2022 Munich, 2024 Rome)
- World Championships: Silver (2019 Doha), Silver (2022 Eugene), Gold (2023 Budapest)
- Diamond League: Second (2021), First (2022), First (2023)
Yaroslava Mahuchikh Net Worth
The Ukrainian athlete’s exact net worth is currently unknown but is estimated to be in millions of U.S. dollars.