High jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh (© Getty Images)
World indoor high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Olympic pole vault gold medallist Katie Nageotte have been announced for top fields at the Wanda Diamond League meetings in Eugene and Birmingham respectively.
The women’s high jump at the Prefontaine Classic takes place on 28 May and the field features five athletes who competed in the Olympic final last year.
Ukraine’s Mahuchikh claimed bronze in Tokyo before winning an emotional gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 last month. She will go up against Australia’s Nicola McDermott, who returns to Hayward Field at the University of Oregon for the first time since competing at the World U20 Championships in 2014. Last year she set a series of Oceanian records and jumped 2.02m to secure silver at the Olympics.
USA’s 2016 world indoor champion Vashti Cunningham adds further strength to the field, along with Ukraine’s 2021 Prefontaine Classic winner Iryna Gerashchenko and Yuliya Levchenko, plus Switzerland’s Salome Lang.
The Prefontaine Classic is the third meeting in this year’s Diamond League series, taking place one week after the Müller Birmingham Diamond League on 21 May.
In Birmingham, four of the current top five world ranked female pole vaulters will battle it out for the first Diamond League points of the season. USA’s Nageotte will face her compatriot Sandi Morris, the two-time world indoor champion, plus 2016 Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi of Greece and Britain’s Olympic bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw.
Morris has cleared five metres outdoors, with the quartet separated by just 10cm on PBs – Nageotte has a best of 4.95m, while Stefanidi has cleared 4.91m and Bradshaw 4.90m.
“I’m so happy to be opening my season at my home Diamond League but having these girls join me at Birmingham makes it even better,” said Bradshaw.
“With the World Championships taking place in mid-July, the early fixtures will be super-competitive and I can’t wait to get going.”
Organisers for World Athletics
