Ukrainian athlete Yaroslava Mokhochik made the arduous journey of about 2,000 kilometers after the Russian invasion of Ukraine to take part in the World Athletics Games in Belgrade.
After the Russian attack, Ukrainian actress Yaroslava was forced to leave her home and go into hiding. She traveled around 2,000 kilometers in three different days to reach the Belgrade Games.
The champion of high jump inside the European saloon won a bronze medal at the 2021 Olympic Games in Japan and a silver medal at the 2019 Doha World Games in Doha, Ukraine three weeks ago. As he left his home, the fighting intensified.
Ukrainian player Yaroslava Mukhochik during the high jump Ukrainian player Yaroslava Mukhochik during the high jump
He says the exercises were the last on his list of priorities, but says he flew to Serbia after “hundreds of phone calls, repeated derailments, explosions, shootings and air strikes.” .
“This medal is for Ukraine, for my whole country and for all its people and for all my army,” said Yaroslava Makhochik. “I must save my country on the world stage,” he said.
The Ukrainian won the gold medal in the 202-meter hurdles at the Belgrade International Games in a close contest with Eleanor Patterson of Australia.
Patterson, an Australian athlete who won a silver medal in the two-meter hurdles while decorating her fingernails with blue and yellow for unification with Ukraine, said winning second place after Yaroslava was a “She [Yaroslava] has had so many problems that no one deserves, so I am very proud of her,” he said.
Kazakhstan’s Nadezhda Dubovskaya finished third.
Yaroslava says she does not yet know how to prepare for future competitions, including the European Open in Europe, the Oregon Games in the United States, and the European Championships in Munich, Germany. He says it is a pity he cannot return to the country now but wants to return as soon as possible.
