Yaroslava Mahuchikh added another gold chapter to her already storied career as she defended her women’s high jump title at Roma 2024.
The 22 year old world champion, with distinctive blue and yellow eye shadow, had her sights firmly focussed on gold despite the intermittent rain.
Gritty competitor
She was the last to enter the competition at 1.90m. She passed on 1.93m and when she resumed at 1.95m with her second first time clearance, the field was down to three including Serbia’s Angelina Topic, silver medallist two years ago in Munich and her Ukraine teammate Iryna Gerashchenko. But both had failures on their card.
Gerashchenko folded after three failed attempts at 1.97m. But she could be highly satisfied with bronze, having finished fifth in Munich 2022, fourth and fifth at the last two World Athletics Championships and fourth in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Topic proved herself a gritty competitor though, clearing 1.97m in her third attempt. But with Mahuchikh sailing over 1.97m and then 1.99m first time, it became a tall order for the Serb. The bar moved to 2.01m, which Mahuchikh cleared on her second try. Topic failed three times and the Ukrainian had another title in her bulging collection.
For Topic, it was another step forward in her highly promising career. The European U20 and U18 champion won bronze in Munich 2022 aged just 17 and she is sure to be challenging Mahuchikh in the coming years.
Final round brilliance from Nowicki
Poland’s Wojciech Nowicki showed true champion qualities as he won the men’s hammer title for the third successive European Athletics Championships. Sitting in bronze medal position, the Olympic champion produced a brilliant final round season’s best of 80.95m to snatch gold.
It demoted Hungary’s Bence Halasz to silver, the same result he achieved in Munich 2022, adding to the bronze he earned at Berlin 2018. The Hungarian, twice world bronze medallist, looked set for his first major championship title after landing a fourth round 80.49m. That was until Nowicki struck.
Bronze went to Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan with a fifth round 80.18m, it rounded a solid series which also included a 80.1m throw.
For Kokhan, it ended a series of near misses in major championships, having finished fifth in Munich 2022, twice fifth in the World Athletics Championships and fourth in the Olympic Games.
Mother of comebacks wins triple jump gold
Ana Peleteiro-Compaoré picked up Spain’s first gold medal of Roma 2024 as she won the women’s triple jump with a fourth round 14.85m (-0.5m/s). It completed a brilliant comeback to the sport after becoming a mother in December 2022.
The Olympic bronze medallist also won bronze at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March and now she has a major title too. Turkyie’s European indoor champion Tuğba Danişmaz put up a formidable challenge, her second round national record of 14.57m (-0.8m/s) led at one stage. But Peleteiro-Compaoré had the final word.
Bronze went to France’s Ilionis Guillaume who added 15cm to her personal best to take bronze with a final round effort of 14.43m (-0.3m/s).
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics