Ukraine’s best hope for gold at Paris 2024 is fresh from high-jumping glory in Rome but yearns for the day she can return home
Yaroslava Mahuchikh is remembering the moment she woke to the sound of rockets and started to laugh hysterically. It was 24 February 2022, the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the world’s best high jumper was trying to process the unfathomable.
“Of course, we heard a lot of conversations on TV beforehand, but every Ukrainian didn’t believe that it would happen,” she says. “I woke up around half past four or 5am and I heard an explosion. At first I thought, maybe it’s something else. But when I heard a second one I knew that the war had started.