Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who was forced to flee her home in Dnipro after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said she was fighting for her country in the stadium after winning gold in the high jump at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.
The 20-year-old, who is the reigning European Indoor high jump champion and won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, spent days sheltering in a cellar before travelling for three days by car to reach Serbia, a trip of nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles).
