Ukrainian produces a top class display in Toruń while Mamona completes European Indoor triple jump double for Portugal

An almost flawless performance from Yaroslava Mahuchikh secured her the European Indoor high jump title as she produced a string of first-time clearances to see off the rest of the competition.

The Ukrainian, who jumped a world lead and PB of 2.06m in February, won gold thanks to her 2.00m effort and her first failure of the day only came when she attempted 2.07m – a height which would have broken the championship record.

Fellow Ukrainian Iryna Gerashchenko took silver thanks to her PB clearance of 1.98m, while a national record of 1.96m gave Finland’s Ella Junnila the bronze.

After excelling in qualifying with a big PB of 1.91m, British hope Emily Borthwick could not find the same form in the final and cleared 1.85m in eighth.

Mahuchikh, who was the last competitor in action during these championships as her final attempts of the day came after the conclusion of the 4x400m relays, now has bigger prizes in mind and has her sights set on overtaking world champion Mariya Lasitskene.

“Jumping two metres now feels easy,” said the world silver medallist. “My goal now is the Olympics. I’m hoping for a good competition against Mariya Lasitskene there. Before, she used to be my idol, but now the person I’m looking up to is myself.”

Meanwhile, Patricia Mamona completed a triple jump double for Portugal as she added the women’s crown to the men’s gold which had been won earlier in the day by compatriot Pedro Pablo Pichardo.

In what was a superb, high-quality contest, it took Mamona’s national record-breaking leap of 14.53m to win her the title, securing victory by just a single centimetre from Spain’s Ana Peleteiro and Germany’s Neele Eckhart.

Mamona had opened with a jump of 14.35m, then reached 14.38m with her second leap before that decisive third-round effort. Eckhart’s 14.52m also chose the third round for her best attempt and had looked on course for the silver until Peleteiro achieved the same distance with her concluding jump.

The Spaniard took the silver medal on countback, having jumped 14.34m in round four while Eckhart’s second-best effort was 14.18m and she fouled her last three attempts.

“This means so much for me, I just want to enjoy the moment,” said Mamona. “This was amazing and I feel even more powerful and confident. Hopefully, it’s just the beginning.”