How a sleeping bag became a major catalyst for Yaroslava Mahuchikh’s Paris win 

How a sleeping bag became a major catalyst for Yaroslava Mahuchikh’s Paris win 

Every story has a watershed moment. Some might even call it a fork in the road. Elite athletes might even become superstitious if that one event keeps occurring and becomes a catalyst for them to win.

In Paris, Yaroslava Mahuchikh lay under a sleeping bag, her eyes half-closed, drifting between focus and surrender. From the stands, it might’ve seemed odd, a world-class high jumper sprawled out on the stadium floor, surrounded by competitors and cameras, yet looking more like she was camping in a field than about to leap for Olympic gold.

But this routine, this small patch of stillness amid the chaos, had been her secret weapon. In a career defined by its courage, Mahuchikh had turned to simple tools: a braid for luck, a book for escape, and now, a sleeping bag for calm. It was, she said, a way to forget the crowd, the stakes, and even the bitter memories of a country under siege.

The journey to this crucial moment had begun on a morning in 2022, the kind of morning that splits lives into before and after. Mahuchikh woke to the sound of explosions and the jarring knowledge that her world would never be the same. She had laughed when she heard it. The nervous, uncontrollable laughter of someone whose brain refuses to process a new and horrible reality.

For months, she stayed in Dnipro, her hometown, delivering humanitarian aid to those in need, hoping somehow her country would turn a corner. But when the chance to compete at the world indoor championships in Belgrade arrived, she knew what she had to do. Even as her homeland was battered, she could still represent Ukraine on the world stage. She packed her gear and embarked on a three-day journey by car, crossing borders and bypassing checkpoints, driven by the belief that her victory could be her country’s victory too.

Arriving in Belgrade, the then 20-year-old somehow found her footing on that cold track. Mahuchikh defied her doubts, cleared the bar at 2.02m, and walked away with her first senior Gold.

Two years later, she arrived in Paris with more medals and an even heavier burden. The yellow and blue of Ukraine painted on her face were a constant reminder of the people counting on her, watching her, from a country half-destroyed but not…