In Paris last year, Australian high jumpers Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson shared the podium with Olympic silver and bronze.
Six months later, the two women have gone one better, winning gold and silver at the world indoor championships in Nanjing.
Nicola Olyslagers (right) and Eleanor Patterson took gold and silver at the world indoor championships.Credit: AP
Olyslagers was defending her world title after winning gold in Glasgow last year, and Patterson, who won gold at the world championships (outdoors) in Oregon, had previously won silver at the world indoors in Belgrade in 2022.
Both women cleared 1.97 metres and had to be split for the medals on countback. In a high-class competition, the pair both overcame Paris gold medallist Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who finished with bronze.
“When I was out there competing, we were really testing a new run-up. That’s something I learned from Yaroslava. She had the courage to try something new in an Olympic year, and that meant that I too could have the courage to do something new and big,” Olyslagers said.
“When Eleanor cleared 1.97m, it reminded me of the Australian Championships in Adelaide last year when we went head-to-head so China felt like being at home, and that too gave me courage to bring my best. I think we bring the best out of each other.”
Patterson said she would have loved to jump higher, but was proud of her performance.
“I’ve changed my run-up completely, and in a lot of ways I would have loved more consistency before competing, but I love still being able to bring out some of my best performances,” she said.
“Two metres is well within my reach again and I’m in really good form to do that this year.”
The high jump medals made for the best-ever performance by Australia at the world indoors after Lachlan Kennedy won silver in the 60m sprint and Jess Hull and Ky Robinson both won bronze in the 3000m.
Australia’s previous largest medal haul at a world indoors had been four in Toronto in 1993.
“The Olympics was great, indoors is great. We’re really going places as a sport,” Olyslagers said.
Hull, who won Olympic silver in Paris last year in the 1500m and stepped up a distance to the 3000m, said she was encouraged by Kennedy’s superb run in the 60m sprint.
Robinson, who has been running for Stanford University in the US, ran the best race of his life to win bronze at his first major world event in a time of 7:47.09 behind Norwegian superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen (7:46.09) and Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi (7:46.25).
“It’s my first year as a professional runner, and a big jump from the collegiate scene in America to the world stage,” Robinson said.
“With 800m to go, I saw a gap and thought, ‘Why not?’
“We’re here on the world stage, we’re here to win. I had to give it my best crack because you never know if you get that opportunity again.
“I don’t want to look back in 30 years’ time and think, ‘What if?’”
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