Belgrade (AFP) - Yaroslava Mahuchikh overcame the "total panic" of armed conflict in her native Ukraine to win gold in the high jump at the World Indoor Championships on Saturday.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Mahuchikh was forced to flee her home, hide out in a cellar and eventually make the 2,000km trip over three days to Belgrade to face what she dubbed her own front line.
The reigning European indoor high jump champion, who won Olympic bronze in Tokyo last summer and world outdoor silver in Doha in 2019, left her home in Dnipro just three weeks ago as the conflict escalated.
Training, needless to say, was low on her list of priorities.
But she did succeed in finding her way to Serbia after "hundreds of phone calls, many changes of direction, explosions, fires, and air raid sirens".
"This medal is for Ukraine, all my country, all my people, all the military," said Mahuchikh."I must protect my country on the track in an international arena.
"Before we went to the field, the only thought in my mind was about Ukraine because too many terrible things have happened there.
"They killed our people and they killed our nation and they killed our children, the future of Ukraine," she said of Russian military actions.
"I don't know what they want because we enjoy our life in Ukraine.I think a lot of people in Russia must understand that this war in Ukraine is true.I know that a lot of Russian people said that it's all fake, the videos are all fake, but a lot of our cities have been destroyed, how was that fake?"
Doubts over form
Arriving in Serbia, Mahuchikh said she even doubted that she could jump at all.
"But my coach said I must go out and perform with the shape and fitness I had before the start of the Russian invasion."
Coming into the competition at 1.88m, Mahuchikh had a failure at 1.92 and two at 2.00 before making the latter height.
She sailed over 2.02 to ramp up the pressure on Eleanor Patterson.The Australian responded by passing, so the bar was raised to 2.04m.
But when Patterson failed at the new height, Mahuchikh was left celebrating in the Stark Arena, the crowd rising for a standing ovation with a handful of Ukrainian flags fluttering.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe handed Mahuchikh a hand-written letter, signed off "with thanks and admiration", when presenting her with the gold medal.
"Your performance this morning is testimony to your passion for our sport and your resolve at such an awful time for your country," Coe said in the letter seen by AFP.
"I know I speak on behalf of all the World Athletics family when I convey mighty thanks for the supreme effort you and your Ukrainian team have made to be with us in Belgrade.
"World Athletics will do all it can to support the needs of the athletes of Ukraine.We have already created a fund to that end."
Painted nails in support
Patterson claimed silver with 2.00m, with Kazakhstan's Nadezhda Dubovitskaya taking bronze (1.98).
"To win a silver behind Yaroslava makes it even more special," said Patterson, who had painted her nails with a blue and yellow love heart in support of Ukraine.
"She's had to deal with such hardships that no one deserves to, so I'm incredibly proud of her too.
"I'm in the same hotel as the Ukrainian team and I was able to see them beforehand and exchange small smiles and little gestures of support."
Mahuchikh said she had been grateful for the support shown to her and the five other members of the all-female Ukraine team in Belgrade.
"I saw that Eleanor had manicured her nails with Ukrainian colours and a big yellow heart," she said."My heart right now is with all people who support us and defend Ukraine."
Mahuchikh's teammate Iryna Gerashchenko, who fled her Kyiv home with her husband and dog amid "everything at once: bombs and rockets" but no kit, finished fifth in the high jump with a best of 1.92m.
"I have such respect for both girls and all the Ukrainians who have made it here," added Patterson."It's incredible to see them and phenomenal for Yaroslava to come away with the gold."
Mahuchikh's victory came in the absence of Russia's Mariya Lasitskene, who won gold in Tokyo competing as an accredited neutral athlete.
But Lasitskene was ruled out of the world indoors following World Athletics' ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes in light of what Coe dubbed the "barbaric" invasion of Ukraine.
Looking ahead, Mahuchikh said she had "no idea" how she would prepare for a busy season that includes the world outdoor championships in Eugene, Oregon, and the European championships in Munich, Germany.
"I am so sorry that I cannot go back to Ukraine.I want to go back as soon as possible, maybe from April," she said, adding that she would now temporarily travel to Germany with her kit sponsor.
Accompanying Mahuchikh will be her coach, mother, sister and two-year-old niece.Her father remains in war-torn Ukraine.
