"I feel fantastic because it was an incredible jump, and on top of that, I managed to do it on my first attempt,” exclaimed the jubilant new record-holder in statements to the organisers. It is a mark that no one has been able to approach in recent years, not even Mahuchikh herself, who in 2021 in Prague came closest to Kostadinova's figures, falling three centimetres short.

One has to go back to the 2006 season to find the most threatening jump until yesterday. This was achieved by the Swedish Kajsa Bergqvist, reaching 2.08 metres, the same height conquered by Croatian Blanka Vlasic three years later, the athlete who most fervently tried to break Kostadinova's record. Indeed, Vlasic pursued the historic feat without success on sixty occasions.

What happened this Sunday at the Stade Charlety in Paris began promisingly for Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who cleared two metres in her direct contest with the indoor world champion, Australia's Nicola Olyaslagers. Both cleared the bar at 2.01 metres, but in the subsequent attempts, only Mahuchikh had the skill to go beyond 2.03 metres. Alone, the Ukrainian first tested herself with the 2.07-metre barrier, which she cleared cleanly on the second attempt with very good sensations.

After the jump, which also served to break her personal best, she felt especially motivated and capable of surpassing Kostadinova's feat. It was then that she requested the bar to be set at 2.10 metres. The athlete concentrated on the jump, took a deep breath, prepared her legs, and mustered all her strength to soar like no woman had done before in an official competition.

"My coach told me I should perhaps stop after clearing 2.07 metres because the Olympic Games are approaching, but I felt inside that I could do it and, to be honest, I wanted to attempt the world record, and I achieved it on my first try," Mahuchikh explained. This historic record comes less than three weeks before the Paris Olympics and makes the 22-year-old Ukrainian, who won bronze in Tokyo 2020, the favourite to win the gold medal.