Belgrade (AFP) - Yaroslava Mahuchikh won a dramatic high jump gold for war-torn Ukraine at the World Indoor Championships on Saturday as Christian Coleman and Lamont Marcell Jacobs remained on course for a showdown in the 60m.
European indoor champion Mahuchikh fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion of her country, making it to Belgrade after a tortuous three-day trip.
After holding her nerve amid "explosions, fires, and air raid sirens", the 20-year-old replicated her sang-froid in the Stark Arena, triumphing over Australian Eleanor Patterson with a best of 2.02 metres.
Mahuchikh received a standing ovation from the crowd, with a handful of Ukrainian flags waved from the stands in the capital of Serbia, a nation where many people openly support Russian President Vladimir Putin and his decision to invade Ukraine.
"It's my job to defend Ukraine colours on the track in the international arena, to show that we are the strongest in the world," said Mahuchikh, who had described her participation in Belgrade as her own front line.
Despite understandable doubts over her preparation, the Ukrainian -- a world outdoor silver medallist and Olympic bronze medal winner -- said: "My coach said I must go out and perform with the shape and fitness I had before the start of the Russian invasion."
Bracy tops 60m heats
On the track, Italy's Olympic 100m champion Jacobs and defending world 100m champion and 60m title holder Coleman led a host of favourites through the heats of the 60m, where the top 10 qualifiers all went under 6.60sec.
Leading the way was Coleman's US teammate Marvin Bracy, who clocked a rapid 6.46 seconds, just a hundredth of a second off the joint fastest time of the year set by Coleman and the absent Terrence Jones of Bahamas.
World 60m record holder Coleman, making his comeback from an 18-month ban for contravening anti-doping rules, cruised through his heat in 6.51sec, with Jacobs winning his in 6.53, the American saying it was "anybody's race".
"It felt pretty good, perhaps a little rusty, but I was taking it easy and smooth," said Coleman.
"I'm going to pick it up for the semis and try to be at my best for the finals."
Jacobs added: "I hope to get better in the next two runs and hopefully get a medal.Coleman is a great and strong runner, he is a real challenge for me and also the rest of the field.Coleman is really fast but Bracy is running very well too."
Bracy was left "pumped" with his heat, vowing: "I am absolutely gunning for Christian's crown.I'm not here to lose...It's going to be a US one-two, that's the goal."
One notable casualty in the morning session was Jamaican Danielle Williams, the 2015 world outdoor gold medallist from Jamaica dramatically breaking a hurdle to finish out of the qualifiers in her 60m hurdles heat.
And British medal hopes were hit when in-form Olympic silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson pulled out of heats for the women's 800m with a thigh injury.
Canada's Olympic decathlon champion Damian Warner went into the second day of the men's heptathlon in the lead just two ahead of Switzerland's Simon Ehammer.
After managing a championship record of 7.61sec, Warner could only clear 4.80m in the pole vault, while Ehammer went over at 5.10.
That meant that the Swiss leads Warner by 23pts going into the final event, the 1,000m, in Saturday's evening session.
The session also sees women compete in finals in the pole vault, 400m, 1500m and 60m hurdles, while the men's programme features the 400m, 800m and shot put.
