Mariya Lasitskene

Mariya Aleksandrovna Lasitskene is a Russian athlete who specialises in the high jump. She won the gold medal at the 2015, 2017 and the 2019 World Championships.

Lasitskene won her first international medal at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics, where she cleared a personal best of 1.85 m to take the silver medal behind Italian Alessia Trost.

Lasitskene has won an ex-aequo gold medal at the 2014 World Indoor Championships and a silver at the 2014 European Championships. At the 2015 European Indoor Championships she won gold as she did later at the 2015 World Championships with a personal best of 2.01 m.

Following her world championships win, she was considered a favorite to win the Olympic title at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. However, she was barred from competing when the CAS upheld their decision to ban the Russian Track and Field Federation from the Games for systematic doping. At a domestic competition she jumped a height of 2.00 m—a height that would've easily won gold in Rio. In April 2017, her application to compete as a neutral athlete until Russia is reinstated was accepted; this allows Lasitskene to resume competition despite the Federation's ban. Her first competition back was the third Diamond League in the series at Eugene. She won the women's high jump with a personal best and world leading height of 2.03 m.

She improved to 2.04 m on 11 June 2017 in Hengelo. On 6 July 2017 she set a new personal best at the Diamond League in Lausanne with a height of 2.06 m, a Diamond League record. She followed up her strong performances in the Diamond League competitions by defending her world title later in London on 12 August 2017 with a height of 2.03 m.