Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh earned her war-afflicted country its first gold medal of the European championships in Rome when she won the women’s high jump on Sunday. On a night featuring six other finals, Poland’s Wojciech Nowicki sealed a third successive European hammer throw title in dramatic fashion. Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith claimed a second continental 100m gold ahead of the July 26-August 11 Paris Olympics.
World champion Mahuchikh, who fled the Russian bombardment of her native city of Dnipro in February 2022, managed a best of 2.01m for gold and will be one of the nailed-on stars for Games in the French capital. Going into the competition, Mahuchikh was clear favourite, her season’s best of 2.
04m a full 6cm better than her closest rival in the field, Serbia’s Angelina Topic. So it proved as the jumpers contended with some heavy rain, Topic managing a best of 1.97m for silver, with another Ukrainian, Iryna Gerashchenko, claiming bronze (1.
95). “I came to Rome to defend my title and to become the double European champion and that is what I managed tonight,” said Mahuchikh. “And it is 2.
01 again – it is a good result and it shows that I can jump higher and higher. My goal is fulfilled and thanks god I did not feel the pain in my hamstring.” Mahuchikh added: “Now I have time to recover even more and to prepare for the main competition of the year.
“I am in a good shape and it is just a start of the season for me – still second time over the.