Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh was in typically imperious form in the Rabat Diamond League on Sunday (28) evening, one of four European victors in the Moroccan capital.
Mahuchikh improved her world leading mark in the high jump courtesy of a 2.01m clearance on her first attempt to defeat her teammate and world fourth-placer Iryna Gerashchenko by 10 centimetres.
In doing so, Mahuchikh has sealed her berth on the Ukrainian team for the European Athletics Team Championships in Silesia from 20-25 June which takes place in conjunction with the European Games in Krakow-Malopolska.
"It was a pleasure to compete. It was like a mini-Ukrainian Championships because there was competition to qualify for the European Games,” said Mahuchikh.
On what she has been focusing on in training, Mahuchikh explained: "We changed my run-up and take-off. We keep working on this. This competition at the start of the competition is like a test for my run-up and I hope everything is good and I will jump higher and higher.”
Still only 21, this was the 28th time Mahuchikh has cleared 2.00m or higher in her career either indoors or outdoors.
World champion Kristjan Ceh from Slovenia assembled one of his best ever series in the discus. The 24-year-old achieved a full complement of valid throws - all of which were over 68 metres with two in excess of the 70 metre-line.
Ceh laid down a marker with his first round throw of 70.07m before improving to 70.32m with his fifth throw. However, Sweden’s Daniel Stahl - Ceh’s predecessor as world champion - closed the gap on the Slovenian with his fourth attempt, whooping for joy after improving his season's best to 69.21m.
Elsewhere, Olympic and European 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway coolly opened his outdoor season with victory in his specialist event in 3:32.59 and world indoor champion Auriol Dongmo from Portugal won the shot put with 19.28m.
Full results here.
Next generation of European combined eventers impress in Götzis
After winning silver in the heptathlon at the European Athletics Indoor Championships, Norway’s Sander Skotheim impressed across the full 10 events at the Gotzis Hypo-Meeting this weekend.
Skotheim, 20, finished third behind Canadians Pierce LePage (8700 points) and Damian Warner (8619 points) with a Norwegian record of 8590 points, smashing the previous mark of 8307 points set by Markus Rooth in 2021.
Skotheim set lifetime best in four of the ten events and also accrued big points in the high jump courtesy of a 2.15m clearance - the best of the day.
In the heptathlon, Katarina Johnson-Thompson showed her comeback from injury is gathering pace as she finished second with 6556 points in a competition won by Anna Hall from the United States who moved to fifth on the world all-time list with 6988 points.
But there were also fine performances from two reigning European age-group champions. Finland’s European U20 champion Saga Vanninen, who is eligible for this year’s European Athletics U23 Championships in Espoo this July, finished fourth with a lifetime best of 6391 points.
And the youngest competitor in the field Jana Koscak from Croatia excelled on her debut in Gotzis. Only nine days after celebrating her 17th birthday, Koscak tallied a brilliant score of 6293 points - a world U18 best in a senior heptathlon - to finish ninth.
Koscak, who won the European U18 heptathlon title last summer, was as high as second after two events after back-to-back lifetime bests of 13.26 in the 100m hurdles and 1.92m in the high jump.
And by dint of her 2006 birthdate, Koscak is eligible for not just the 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships in Jerusalem but also the 2025 edition as well.