Ukraine's Mahuchikh and Levchenko soar to World Championship final
Photo: Yaroslava Mahuchikh (x.com/diamond_league)
At the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, the women's high jump qualification round took place. Three Ukrainian athletes competed for a place in the final. Here's how the qualifiers unfolded.
Surprise at start
36 athletes were allowed to start, 18 of whom were making their World Championships debut. According to the rules, 12 athletes would advance to the final.
The organizers decided not to delay the selection, so they set an unusually high starting barrier of 1.83 meters. Due to this, many jumpers were eliminated at the start.
Ukraine was represented by three participants: Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Yuliia Levchenko, and Kateryna Tabashnyk.
Mahuchikh skipped the first height, Levchenko cleared it on her first attempt casually, while Tabashnyk kept everyone in suspense, advancing only on her third and final try.
Next came 1.88 meters. Mahuchikh again passed, Levchenko cleared it on her first attempt, and Tabashnyk on her second.
Mahuchikh and Levchenko qualified for the World Championships final; the third Ukrainian was unfortunately eliminated.
Yuliia Levchenko (photo: instagram.com/levchenkou)
Unbeatable height
By 1.92 meters, 24 athletes were competing for 12 final spots. This height proved too challenging for most.
The top athletes, including Mahuchikh and Levchenko, cleared it on their first attempts. Mahuchikh needed only one jump to secure her place in the final.
Tabashnyk, however, failed the task.
As a result, only 11 athletes cleared 1.92 meters. To fill the remaining spots, five athletes who stopped at 1.88 meters were also admitted, based on the fewest attempts. Tabashnyk's earlier struggles at 1.83 and 1.88 meters ultimately worked against her.
Final participants
Thus, Ukraine lost one of its three representatives in the qualifiers.
The final lineup includes:
- Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine)
- Morgan Lake (Great Britain)
- Eleanor Patterson (Australia)
- Angelina Topic (Serbia)
- Nicola Olyslaegers (Australia)
- Yuliia Levchenko (Ukraine)
- Michaela Hruba (Czechia)
- Maria Zhozik (Poland)
- Rose Yeboah (Ghana)
- Kristina Gonsel (Germany)
- Maria Vukovic (Montenegro)
- Yelena Kulichenko (Cyprus)
- Elizabet Pigela (Estonia)
- Fatumata Balleh (Guinea)
- Imke Onnen (Germany)
- Merel Maes (Belgium)
The decisive high jump final will take place on Sunday, September 21, starting at 1:30 PM Kyiv time.
