Olyslagers and Patterson Ascend Podium in Paris

Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson have created Australian Olympic history, winning silver and bronze in the Women’s High Jump, making it the first time Australia has had two medallists in the same field event.

Nicola has now won back-to-back silver, jumping 2.00m on her third attempt, then at 2.02 meters she had three attempts to almost snatch the gold. She was beaten on a countback with Ukrainian world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh.

Eleanor cleared a season’s best of 1.95m and shared the bronze with Iryna Gerashchenko also of Ukraine, meaning there will be four athletes from two nations on the podium when the medals are awarded tomorrow.

The 70,000 spectators were right behind every jumper in what was a sensational competition. It’s a stark contrast to Tokyo, where both athletes competed with no spectators.

“I feel like I’m a different athlete than I was three years ago when it comes to my consistency,” Nicola said.

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“I had so much joy tonight. I have a following at home that we are watching and maybe expecting a lot of things from me. But even under that pressure, I actually saw that and rather than shrink back from performing I feel like with that two meter jump I rose to the occasion. So it was really beautiful”

Nicola also becomes the only Australian field athlete to win a medal at consecutive Olympics.

“I wanted Paris to be really special but there were times when I didn’t believe that I could be in the best shape in my life at the Olympics,” Nicola said.

As she did in qualifying, Eleanor easily cleared 1.95m, but she just clipped 1.98m on all three occasions. With her head in her hands thinking she had missed a medal, Iryna missed and they were joint bronze medallists.

“I’m in a lot of disbelief, especially the disappointment of not clearing 198 and kind of the self-analysis that you can’t help but have as an athlete,” Eleanor said.

“You always want more, and I know I’ve got a lot more in me as far as my performance and my jumps but then to come away with the bronze, I’m so, so proud.

“This has been a dream from when I was an eight-year-old, when I first stepped on the track at Little Aths as a little girl, this very shy girl, who has been obsessed with athletics from a very young age and now I’m an Olympic medalist, so it’s very exciting.”

The pair created history at the 2023 World Championships as the first Australians to share a podium in an individual event, when Eleanor won silver and Nicola the bronze.

“Obviously, it was wonderful to share the podium with Nicola last year, but it’s an Olympics, it’s the big dance. And so this is really, really special.

Nicola, the reigning world indoor champion trains in Sydney with long-time coach Matt Horsnell, while Eleanor is coached by Alex Stewart and trains with Australian team-mate Brandon Starc in Sydney. She won the World Championships in 2022 before getting back on the podium in 2023.

“I struggled with a lot of confidence this year, I’m not going to lie,” Eleanor said.

“Two months ago, I was genuinely quite scared in a lot of ways. I was quite nervous about what this was going to bring, and I think I struggled a lot with expectations of myself and I wanted to be able to perform.

“I just completed and completed and completed, and threw myself in the deep end. It was tough and I hated not performing how I wanted to, and even today I would have loved to have jumped higher, but at the same time I don’t think it’s sinking in at all. I’m an Olympic medallist!

Article courtesy of the AOC