Australian high jump star Nicola Olyslagers wins world indoor title

Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers was staring at another silver medal before memories of a cold night competing in Melbourne inspired her to a 10 out of 10 jump and World indoors gold.

First-placed Australia's Nicola Olyslagers shows her notes as she celebrates gold. (Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP)

WITH another gold medal about to slip away, Nicola Olyslagers let her mind wander back to a cold night in Melbourne two weeks earlier.

The Tokyo Olympic silver medallist had missed her opening two attempts at 1.99m in the final of the world indoor championships in Glasgow.

She’d never competed indoors before and was getting more and more anxious as she watched her competitors who were clearly more comfortable in the surroundings.

Olyslagers writes down everything in a journal during her competitions and it was again during this process before her final attempt that inspiration was found.

She then proceeded to execute a “10/10” jump to win the world title after defending champion Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh failed on her third attempt at 1.99m.

Nicola Olyslagers shows her journal as she celebrates World indoor gold. Picture: Ben Stansall / AFP

“I got to 1.99m, and the first two attempts were just off,” Olyslagers said. “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 . . . 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.”

The victory is a major statement ahead of the Paris Olympics where the 27-year-old will be the main gold medal hope of Australia’s track and field team.

Olyslagers, who won the bronze medal at last year’s world championships in Budapest, has been the dominant jumper in the world this season, equalling her Oceania record of 2.03m in her season opener outdoors in Canberra in January.

But her ability to deliver in an unfamiliar environment against her main rival is a significant confidence boost for five months time in Paris.

“I’m feeling really thankful for today. 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,” Olyslagers said.

Austria's Nicola Olyslagers competes in the Women's High Jump final during the Indoor World Athletics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 1, 2024. Picture: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP

“Every height, I knew I had to take it as it came and not be overwhelmed by what was around me. My competitors looked so comfortable and it took me a while to combat all the doubts that were in my head.

“With more success, there is more responsibility. If I get confident now, I will get comfortable and I won’t train the way that I need to. This will almost be like a memory for me about what’s possible, but I don’t want to settle. I want to keep achieving new things.”

Unfortunately her Aussie teammate, 2022 world champion Eleanor Patterson, was forced to withdraw from the event earlier in the week to focus on her Olympic preparations at home.

Olyslagers became the fifth Australian woman to win a world indoor title alongside greats Sally Pearson, Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, Tamsyn Lewis and Kerry Saxby.

Pearson’s victory over the 60m hurdles in 2012 in Istanbul is Australia’s most recent success. Two years earlier in Doha Steve Hooker (pole vault) and Fabrice Lapierre (long-jump) both won indoor gold.

In other results in Glasgow, national 800m record holder Catriona Bisset progressed through to the semi-finals on her 30th birthday but Linden Hall failed to get out of the heats of the 1500m.

Originally published as Australian high jump star Nicola Olyslagers wins world indoor title