Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh will be seeking her third successive victory at the famous Banska Bystrica high jump meeting in Slovakia on 15 February with typically strong fields being assembled for both the men’s and women’s competitions.
Mahuchikh provided one of the highlights of last year’s indoor season with victory at the Banskobystricka Latka, a World Indoor Tour Silver meeting, where she soared over 2.06m on her first attempt to move to equal third on the world indoor all-time list.
Mahuchikh displaced two significant records from the books with that leap: the meeting record of 2.05m which was set by Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic in 2006 and the long-standing Ukrainian record of 2.05m which was held by former world champion Inha Babakova. Her 2.06m clearance was also the highest ever jump recorded by a teenager.
Mahuchikh went on to win the European indoor title in Torun before coming away with a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in her first season in the senior ranks. Mahuchikh is due to face Olympic silver medallist Nicola McDermott from Australia in Banska Bystrica along with her teammate Yuliya Levchenko and former European indoor champion Airine Palsyte from Lithuania.
In the men’s competition, European indoor champion Maksim Nedasekau from Belarus joins a cast which also includes Germany’s Mateusz Przybylko, the reigning European outdoor champion from Berlin 2018, and the previously announced US duo of Shelby McEwen and JuVaugh Harrison and Cuba’s Luis Zayas.
South Korea’s Woo Sang-Hyeok, who was a surprise fourth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, is also due to make his Banska Bystrica debut.
Mihambo announced for Berlin and Düsseldorf
Malaika Mihambo is the third Olympic champion to be announced for the ISTAF Indoor in Berlin on 4 February, a World Indoor Tour Silver meeting, after Italy’s Marcell Jacobs and Armand Duplantis from Sweden.
Mihambo has won the long jump at the last three editions of the ISTAF Indoor but the German will swap the sandpit for the starting blocks at next month’s meeting. She will contest the 60m in Berlin before making her long jump debut at the ISTAF Indoor in Dusseldorf, another World Indoor Tour Silver meeting, on 20 February.
“Last year, the run-up was not as stable as desired. The focus is currently fully on sprints. But the preparations are going really well; everything is according to plan. That's why I'm really looking forward to competing in the long jump in Düsseldorf. The ISTAF INDOOR is always a real highlight for us athletes,” said Mihambo, who holds all three major outdoor long jump titles.
Under the current hygiene and sanitary protocols, 1500 tickets will be sold for the ISTAF Indoor in Berlin and 750 tickets will be sold for Dusseldorf.