‘Special’ result: Australian Eleanor Patterson second to Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh at world indoor high jump final

Eleanor Patterson wasn’t that upset that she was beaten for gold by Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who spent three days travelling 2000km to Serbia.

Yaroslava Mahuchikh with Australia's Eleanor Patterson after the women's high jump final during The World Athletics Indoor Championships at the Stark Arena in Belgrade. Picture: AFP

Victoria’s Eleanor Patterson won the silver medal in the high jump at the world indoor championships in Belgrade on Saturday, having painted her fingernails with a blue and yellow heart in support of Ukraine.

So she wasn’t particularly upset that she was beaten for the gold medal by Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who had spent three days travelling 2000km to Serbia and who was so distracted by the war in her homeland she was uncertain whether to compete.

Patterson during the women's high jump final. Picture: Getty Images

“To win a silver behind Yaroslava makes it even more special,” Patterson said, having cleared two metres, but failing at 2.04m. Mahuchikh cleared 2.02m to win the competition with Kazakhstan’s Nadezhda Dubovitskaya taking the bronze medal jumping 1.98m.

Said Patterson of Mahuchikh: “She’s had to deal with such hardships that no one deserves to, so I’m incredibly proud of her too.”

Mahuchikh was given a standing ovation by the Serbian crowd. The Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Mariya Lasitskene, of Russia, was missing because of a World Athletics ban on Russian athletes.

“Before we went to the field, the only thought in my mind was about Ukraine because too many terrible things have happened there,” Mahuchikh said, revealing she had “total panic”.

“I even doubted that I 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.”

Mahuchikh celebrates gold in Belgrade. Picture: Getty Images

Mahuchikh, 20, left her home in Dnipro, saying she travelled to Serbia after “hundreds of phone calls, many changes of direction, explosions, fires, and air raid sirens”. She had fled her house when Russia invaded Ukraine and hid in a cellar.

“It was very important for me, my family, my country,” Mahuchikh told BBC Sport.

“I don’t think about competition, training. For me, coming here was difficult – three days by car – and to jump here was so difficult psychologically because my heart remains in my country.

“It’s so difficult but I think I’ve done very well for my country because I protect my country on the track. I think it’s a very important thing for my country.”

Later she remarked: “This medal is for Ukraine, all my country, all my people, all the military. I must protect our country on the track in an international arena.”

Mahuchikh said she wanted to protect her ‘country on the track’. Picture: Getty Images

Six Ukrainians are competing in Belgrade, including fellow high jumper Iryna Gerashchenko, who fled from Kyiv.

Gerashchenko said she remembered her dog in the chaotic departure, but “amid the bombs and rockets” she forgot her athletic kit.

Another Aussie emerged triumphant, as Brisbane’s Ash Moloney backed up his Tokyo Olympic bronze medal with a world indoors bronze in the heptathlon.

Moloney tallied 6,344 points in the seven-event two day competition.

“It’s absolutely unreal, I’ve been dreaming of competing in front of such a big crowd and now I finally had the chance to do that,” he said.

“I came to Belgrade not expecting too much, but I knew coming in if I kept my cool, I had a chance to win a medal.”

Moloney has been battling patella tendonitis and his tactics to retire early in the high jump kept him fresh for the second day events.

Originally published as ‘Special’ result: Australian Eleanor Patterson second to Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh at world indoor high jump final