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Maria Zodzik. Photo: instagram.com/maria.zodzik
Poland’s Maria Zodzik, who was born in Belarus, advanced to the final of the European Athletics Championships in the high jump 2026. At the last World Championships 2025 she was already one of the main sensations, and now she will continue to compete for medals alongside Ukrainians Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Iryna Herashchenko.
Maria Zodzik was reported on by the Novyny.LIVE portal.
Maria Zodzik. Photo: instagram.com/maria.zodzik
Zodzik at the EC 2026
Maria successfully cleared qualification and entered the ranks of finalists at the European Championships 2026. Along with her, the decisive round included Ukrainians Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Iryna Herashchenko, as well as Angelina Topic (Serbia), Christina Gonzsel (Germany), Yelena Kulichenko (Cyprus), Merel Maes (Belgium), Louise Ekman (Sweden), Marija Vuković (Montenegro), Carmen Bruus (Estonia), Asia Tavernini and Idea Pieroni (both — Italy), Ella Junnila (Finland) and Morgan Lake (Great Britain).
Zodzik comes into the European Championships in excellent form. At the World Championships in Tokyo she sensationally won the silver medal, setting a personal best of 2,00 meters. At that event she unexpectedly finished ahead of Mahuchikh.
For the Polish team her medal was the only one at the tournament, and the athlete herself earned 35 thousand dollars in prize money — the largest sum of her career.
Why Zodzik changed countries
Maria was born in Baranovichi (Belarus) into a family of Polish descent. Her grandparents were Polish, and in March of 2024 the president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, granted the athlete Polish citizenship by decree.
After moving to Poland, Zodzik admitted she did not plan to return to Belarus. According to her, the decision was related not only to her sporting career but also to Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. The athlete emphasized that it was in Poland she felt at home.
Already in 2020 Zodzik signed an open letter by Belarusian athletes condemning the falsification of the presidential election and the violence against protesters. Later she also spoke out openly against Russian aggression toward Ukraine.
Recall that earlier the Novyny.LIVE portal wrote about Elina Svitolina’s earnings for reaching the semifinal of the Toronto tournament.
Novyny.LIVE also told the story of Oleksandr Zubkov’s wife and their emotional roller coaster.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Хто така Марія Жодзік, суперниця Магучіх на чемпіонаті Європи". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Zavtra.UA - About What Will Happen Tomorrow.
