Daily Times

Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh earned her war-afflicted country its first gold medal of the European championships in Rome when she won the women’s high jump on Sunday.

On a night featuring six other finals, Poland’s Wojciech Nowicki sealed a third successive European hammer throw title in dramatic fashion.

Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith claimed a second continental 100m gold ahead of the July 26-August 11 Paris Olympics. World champion Mahuchikh, who fled the Russian bombardment of her native city of Dnipro in February 2022, managed a best of 2.01m for gold and will be one of the nailed-on stars for Games in the French capital.

Going into the competition, Mahuchikh was clear favourite, her season’s best of 2.04m a full 6cm better than her closest rival in the field, Serbia’s Angelina Topic. So it proved as the jumpers contended with some heavy rain, Topic managing a best of 1.97m for silver, with another Ukrainian, Iryna Gerashchenko, claiming bronze (1.95).

“I came to Rome to defend my title and to become the double European champion and that is what I managed tonight,” said Mahuchikh.

“And it is 2.01 again – it is a good result and it shows that I can jump higher and higher. My goal is fulfilled and thanks god I did not feel the pain in my hamstring.”

Mahuchikh added: “Now I have time to recover even more and to prepare for the main competition of the year.

“I am in a good shape and it is just a start of the season for me – still second time over the 2 metres. There was a very competitive atmosphere in the field and the young generation – Topic jumped so well.

“I am looking forward to competing with them at the Olympic Games.”

Asher-Smith maintained her form perfectly after a poor start to claim her second European 100m title after previously winning the blue riband event in the 2018 Berlin championships. She timed 10.99 seconds for victory. Poland’s Ewa Swoboda claimed silver in 11.03sec in a photo finish with Italian Zaynab Dosso. “I can definitely run faster than that,” said Asher-Smith. “This is a progression towards the Olympic Games. I am glad to be in this shape after some months of a new set-up, it is really hard to achieve.”

There was drama in the men’s hammer throw as Nowicki, the reigning Olympic champion and five-time world medallist, left it late for his third continental title.

Sitting in third spot going into his sixth and final throw, the 35-year-old Pole pulled everything out of the bag with an effort of 80.95m to jump into top spot.

It pushed Hungary’s Bence Halasz into second (80.49m), with Ukrainian Mykhaylo Kokhan taking bronze (80.18).

Nowicki’s team-mate Pawel Fajdek, the five-time world champion and 2016 European title winner, finished sixth with 77.50m.

“The thing I really like about this championship and this particular title was that competition – I like to compete like this!” said Nowicki. “It was very exciting until the last attempts so it was a great test before the Olympic Games.”

Spain’s Ana Peleteiro-Compaore, the Olympic bronze medallist, sailed out to 14.85m on the fourth time of asking to seal victory in the women’s triple jump.

Turkey’ Tugba Danismaz took silver with a national record of 14.57m, with bronze going to France’s Ilionis Guillaume (14.43). There was also a double gold for soon-to-be Olympic hosts France.