"VAN" (Sports Desk - 22.04.2025) :: The 2025 Wanda Diamond League season kicks off in Xiamen this Saturday, with some of the world's biggest stars beginning their Road to the Final at the Egret Stadium.
Among those in action is women's high jump Olympic champion and world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who is aiming for a fourth successive Diamond League title in 2025.
Ahead of the season opener, the Ukrainian star sat down with diamondleague.com to talk about her world record in Paris last season, her hopes for the upcoming season and her dreams of returning home before LA 2028.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh on...
...her preparations for the season opener in Xiamen
It’s going well! I’ve been jumping well since the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing. I know that there will be great competitors in the field in Xiamen with the Australian girls and the Serbian girls. It will be an incredible atmosphere and I want to get a good result. I’m looking forward to starting my season.
...the importance of the Diamond League in a World Championships year
The World Championships are obviously the most important competition for me this year. But for me, the Diamond League is like a World Championships. Mentally, it’s on the same level. And it’s a chance for us to jump, jump and jump and get in shape. I’m looking forward to the start of the season and also to the Final in Zurich. That will be just before the World Championships so I will be in good shape.
...her world record at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Paris last season
When I jumped it, I didn’t immediately recognise what it meant. I didn’t grasp it until October, when my coach and I were back in Ukraine, and the National Olympic Committee nominated me as athlete of the year and showed the video of my world record and my Olympic gold medal. That was the moment I understood what a fantastic year it had been.
...competing for Ukraine against the backdrop of war.
After the first year in 2022, I thought it might get easier the more experience I had. But now I understand that it only gets harder. Every year, it is harder to be abroad and to only be at home in Ukraine for two months. It’s harder to leave and know that you will only come back at the end of the season in October, because you can’t train in your hometown. I really hope that by the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028, I will be able to train in Dnipro again. This hope is what helps me to be in shape and continue my work.
...possibly equalling her Russian rival Mariya Lasitskene's record of four straight Diamond League titles in 2025
I want a big wall for my collection of Diamond Trophies, because they are so beautiful and it’s such a fantastic feeling when you receive this trophy and stand on the podium with the champions from all the other disciplines. You’re on stage with the whole athletics family, with the best of the best. I want to repeat those feelings over and over again.
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