ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND, August 27 — Nicola Olyslagers proved to be the virtuoso performer in a superbly entertaining and top-quality high jump competition in front of Zürich’s Opera House which also saw the chorus in fine voice and hitting plenty of high notes.
The Australian went clear at a world-leading 6-8¼ (2.04) to take the DL title, as well as the accompanying $30,000 1st-prize check, after it had been in the possession of Yaroslava Mahuchikh for the last 3 years.
Olyslagers, the 2-time world indoor champion, will now go to Tokyo as the marginal favorite to lift her first major outdoor title after bronze at the ’23 World Championships and Olympic silver in Paris last summer.
On a sunny afternoon in the historic center of Zürich, with just the faintest of breezes, there was a surprise early departure for ’22 WC gold medalist Eleanor Patterson, who could go no higher than 6-3¼ (1.91). The remaining 5 in the compact field all went clear at 6-5½ (1.97).
At 6-6¾ (2.00) Olyslagers, Mahuchikh and Morgan Lake were all successful on their first attempts — the latter improving her British Record by 1cm to become the 86th woman over the landmark height — while Ukraine’s Yuliya Levchenko cleared with her 3rd attempt, to make it the first meet since the ’22 WC with 4 women over 2.00, as Germany’s Christina Honsel departed from the competition.
Olyslagers, jumping first in the rotation, then flew clear at 6-7½ (2.02) to continue her flawless record while Mahuchikh needed two attempts to equal her world-lead from the Doha DL back in May.
At 6-8¼ (2.04), Olyslagers again rose to the occasion with her sixth successive first-time clearance. She just ever so gently tickled the bar as she improved the Australian Record by a centimeter. In response, Mahuchikh — with her failure at the previous height counting against her — opted to pass.
Neither could navigate 6-9 (2.06) but Olyslagers would have doubtless had her heart in her mouth as the Ukrainian WR-holder had a brace of outstanding efforts, just clipping the bar off with her heels on her second and third attempts.
Known for her practice of penning notes in a notebook during competitions, Olyslagers, who’s 28, said “I didn’t ever imagine when I was a child that I would get to this height, and I just…
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