The high jump world record of Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine) of 210cm is not yet ratified. Thus, the living Bulgarian legendary athlete Stefka Kostadinova remains the world record holder in the high jump with her achievement from the games in Rome in 1987, at least for now.
Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh’s record in the high jump of 210cm, which she set at a Diamond League competition on July 7, 2024, has not yet been recognized by the World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations, or IAAF.
A lot of people started wondering, why the ratification of the world record of Yaroslava Mahuchikh is delaying and if there is something wrong with the world record. Moreover, the Ukrainian athlete was far from this achievement during the whole season and hardly overcome 200cm (which is 10cm lower that the world record she set).
Answers to these questions gives Dobromir Karamarinov, the President of the European Athletics Federation.
“I can explain to you how the ratification of each world record is done, but I cannot go into private cases. World records in athletics are extremely rigorously scrutinized, and this world record was set at a Diamond League event. In the race, of course, there is doping control, and when a world record is set, we have mandatory doping control. There is a height measurement by the judge who is on the sector and a re-measurement by the jumping referee. Then there is a mandatory spike check. This is something new and maybe not much known by the general public”, says Mr Karamarinov in an interview.
For each new world record in athletics, the athletes’ spikes are sent to an institute in Germany, where they are checked. Spikes can play a very important role and respectively the spikes of each competitor must meet precisely defined requirements
“The ratification of a world record takes place after all the necessary documents have been submitted. We are talking about the result of the mandatory doping control, the result of the spike check, the signatures of all the height measuring officials, the time this world record was made. All these documents, all these applications are checked by several people in the office of the v and only after that comes ratification with the signature of the president of the International Athletics Federation”, adds Dobromir Karamarinov.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh broke one of the oldest records in athletics, improving the 37-year-old world record of Stefka Kostadinova in the high jump. The Ukrainian athlete, who is the world and European champion, jumped 210cm on her first attempt at the Paris Diamond League, thus winning the gold and improving the world record.