Nicola Olyslagers has enjoyed another triumph in her increasingly spectacular career, winning the Diamond League Final with an Australian and Oceanian record high jump in Zurich.
The double Olympic silver medallist’s winning leap of 2.04cm – the best in the world this year – added a centimetre to her national and continental record on Wednesday, while demonstrating she is also in good shape to take the outdoor global title for the first time in Tokyo in a fortnight.
“I’ve been trying to get that height for a few years now – and today I got the Diamond trophy on top – what a day!” said Olyslagers, who is shaping as the outstanding Australian hope in the Japanese capital.
“It’s very special. I didn’t ever imagine when I was a child that I would get to this height. I had this peace inside my heart and I’m still discovering what’s possible for me.”
The 28-year-old outduelled world record holder, Ukraine’s Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who equalled her season’s best with a 2.02m leap but still succumbed to Olyslagers for the fourth time in this campaign.
Olyslagers became only the third Australian woman – after hurdler Sally Pearson (2017) and pole vaulter Nina Kennedy (2022, 2024) – and seventh Australian athlete to take a Diamond League title, and it came after a brilliant season in which she had already won in Stockholm, Paris and Lausanne.
Olyslagers clears at Sechselaeutenplatz in Zurich. Photograph: Michael Buholzer/EPA
Like Kennedy last year, she found her best form in Zurich’s main Sechselautenplatz square in the shadow of the city’s Opera House, on the first of two days of competition before the track action moves to the Letzigrund Stadium on Thursday.
She seemed inspired from the start, clearing six heights without a failure, topped by her 2.04m leap, which bettered her previous best of 2.03, which she first set in Eugene in September 2023.
Mahuchikh had a chance to snatch victory after Olyslagers failed three times at 2.06m, but the Ukrainian couldn’t get over either, even as her sporting Australian rival clapped and cheered for her on her final attempt.
“It was so nice having Yaroslava jump with me the whole way,” said Olyslagers. “Jumping with her is one of my favourite things in the world, so having her and me really go for it was wonderful.
“I think I have some notes of what I need to change in order to go higher,” she added, after scribbling in her famous notebook at the side of the apron. “The 2.04m was 10 out of 10 – but I still need to work on my run in the last three steps.”
Olyslagers’ Australian teammate Eleanor Patterson finished last of the six finalists, clearing 1.91m.
Later, world indoor medallist Liam Adcock leapt to third place in the long jump, with a last-round best of 8.24 metres.
The 29-year-old Brisbane jumper finished just 8cm behind local hero Simon Ehammer, who delighted the crowd with his third-round 8.32m winner, which just pipped Italian Mattia Furlani’s 8.30m.
Armand Duplantis, who took the pole vault crown as usual, was still smiling even though way off his best form. ‘Mondo’ prevailed on countback after clearing 6.00m, the same height as Greek Emmanouil Karalis.
When told it was his 118th clearance at 6m and above, Duplantis beamed: “118? Oh, that is really special. I shouldn’t take it for granted.
“Today? Well, I’m a human being I don’t break world records every day. There are days when I feel decent and days when I feel bad. Today I felt somewhere in between.”
Australian Kurtis Marschall had to settle for fourth with 5.65m.
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