Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers has soared to her first global gold medal five months out from Paris 2024, producing a clutch moment at the World Athletics Indoor Championships to take victory in Glasgow.
In a showdown with the defending outdoor and indoor world champion, Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Olyslagers nailed a jump of 1.99 metres with her final attempt at that height.
Mahuchikh then had a final crack at 1.99 metres in a bid to extend the head-to-head, but the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist clipped the bar.
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With the gold medal wrapped up, Olyslagers had three unsuccessful attempts at 2.02 metres, before draping the Australian flag around her shoulders and soaking up a warm applause in Scotland.
Olyslagers had come close to global glory on a couple of occasions, having won Olympic silver in Tokyo and world championship bronze in Budapest in 2023.
And the 27-year-old from the coastal NSW city of Gosford, who’s captured the hearts and imagination of athletics fans with her note-taking, emotive run-up routine and phenomenal jumping, can now say she is a world champion.
“I’m feeling really thankful for today,” Olyslagers said.
“I went into the competition willing to challenge myself knowing I hadn’t competed indoors before, and I actually wasn’t aiming for the medals today.
“Every height, I knew I had to take it as it came and not be overwhelmed by what is around me. My competitors looked so comfortable and it took me a while to combat all the doubts that were in my head.
“I got to 1.99m, and the first two attempts were just off. I thought, ‘Wait a minute, I jumped this two weeks ago at the Maurie Plant Meet on a cold night with a headwind. I know I’ve got this inside of me!’. I had a decision to make … Was I going to listen to these doubts, or do what I needed to do? I journaled that perfect love casts out fear and really thought about that … The next thing I knew, I was running and it was rhythmic, and it was a 10/10 jump.
“The gold medal is just the icing on the cake.”
Mahuchikh took out silver and Slovenia’s Lia Apostolovski claimed bronze.
Olyslagers is one of four women who’ve jumped two metres or higher this year. Mahuchikh has a world lead of 2.04 metres, ahead of Olyslagers (2.03), Jamaica’s Lamara Distin (2.00) and Russia’s Natalya Spiridonova (2.00).
Australia’s Eleanor Patterson, a world champion and 2.03 high jumper, will be a genuine shot at gold at the Paris Olympics, but didn’t compete at the world indoor titles.