Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh won the women's high jump at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest after clearing 1.99 metres. Australia's Nicola Olyslagers finished second with 1.95m on Friday, 11 September 2026, at the Gyula Zsivótzky National Athletics Centre.

Mahuchikh wins with 1.99m

According to the official World Athletics report, Mahuchikh opened at 1.91m and cleared that height, then 1.95m, at the first attempt. She needed two tries at 1.99m. The title was settled when Olyslagers could not clear that bar. The Olympic champion had only one failure up to the winning height and then took three attempts at 2.04m, a mark that would have improved her own world lead by a centimetre. She did not clear 2.04m; 1.99m was not her last attempted height.

The official result: 1. Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine) 1.99m; 2. Nicola Olyslagers (Australia) 1.95m; 3. Eleanor Patterson (Australia) and Angelina Topić (Serbia), both 1.91m; 5. Iryna Gerashchenko (Ukraine) 1.91m; 6. Lamara Distin (Jamaica), Maria Żodzik (Poland) and Yuliia Levchenko (Ukraine), all 1.86m.

Olyslagers takes second with 1.95m

Olyslagers cleared 1.95m only on her third attempt. Gerashchenko, Topić and Patterson each missed all three tries at that height. The Australian, the 2025 world champion, said afterwards she had struggled to find her approach rhythm on a difficult surface on a cold evening.

Large prizes for a new event

The 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship is the first edition of the competition, designed as a compact season-ending meeting, not a replacement for the World Athletics Championships. The federation's announced prize pot is $10 million. Individual events pay $150,000 for first, $75,000 for second and $40,000 for third. Mahuchikh therefore receives $150,000 for the win and Olyslagers $75,000 for second.

According to Reuters, reported by The Guardian, Olyslagers learned in the mixed zone what silver was worth. She said she had expected a much smaller sum for second place. The $75,000 cheque is $5,000 more than she received for winning the world title last season — a comparison attributed to the athlete, not a general rule about all World Championships.

The two rivals

Mahuchikh, 24, born 19 September 2001, still holds the outdoor world record: 2.10m in Paris on 7 July 2024, above Stefka Kostadinova's 2.09m from 1987. She is Olympic champion (2024), outdoor world champion (Budapest 2023) and a two-time world indoor champion. In January 2026 she cleared 2.03m indoors in Lviv.

Olyslagers, 29, born 28 December 1996, is a two-time Olympic silver medallist and the 2025 world champion. Her personal best is 2.04m, set in Zurich in August 2025. She is one of Mahuchikh's main rivals; in Budapest she stopped at 1.95m.

A season-ending event with a financial stake

World Athletics launched the championship in part to raise rewards for elite athletes, in a sport whose individual prizes have typically been smaller than those in tennis or golf. Every competitor is paid, not only the podium. The Budapest meeting remains a separate event from the World Athletics Championships.

Source consulted: Mahuchikh soars to Ultimate high jump title back in Budapest (World Athletics, 11 September 2026). Results: World Athletics Ultimate Championship — results. Prize money: Five things to know about the World Athletics Ultimate Championship. Context: Nicola Olyslagers finds silver lining in high jump jackpot (The Guardian / Reuters, 12 September 2026). Image: Yaroslava Mahuchikh at Weltklasse Zürich 2026 (Diamond League), photographed by Quejaytee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; this is not a photograph from Budapest.