Australian dethrones reigning champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh in a tightly contested world final.

On a wet and unpredictable final night of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, the weather threatened to steal the show but Nicola Olyslagers rose above it all to claim her first-ever ourdoor world high jump title.

Persistent rain caused delays across the field events, with the high jump competition halted mid-way as athletes were forced to seek shelter from the downpour. But when the action resumed, Olyslagers remained unfazed.

The Australian navigated the early heights with composure, clearing each bar on her first attempt from 1.93m through to 2.00m, a perfect record that would prove decisive in the final standings. Only Poland’s Maria Żodzik matched her at 2.00m, but needed all three attempts to clear it, giving Olyslagers the edge on countback and handing her a long-awaited world title.

She said: "This was just pure joy, even in the rain. I've seen so many bars fall off just by that small amount, but when it stays on what else could you say but 'Thank you God'. High jump is a bit of luck, but tonight was so special.

"I think this season I have had many hard competitions but the whole year was really great. I realised I had to stop holding onto my goals really tightly and be spontaneous, take risks, and really move by faith and not sight. I was hoping I had faith that it would work but even if it didn't I had so much fun this year."

It was heartbreak for reigning world and Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who came into the event as a favourite. The Ukrainian cleared 1.97m but faltered at both 2.00m and 2.02m, leaving her unexpectedly in the mix for bronze.

There, she was joined by Serbia’s Angelina Topić, the 20-year-old rising star who equalled her personal best of 1.97m to cap a remarkable return from injury. Both athletes finished with identical records and shared the bronze medal, while Eleanor Patterson, Olyslagers' Australian teammate, placed fifth with a clearance of 1.97m.

Great Britain’s Morgan Lake, hoping to contend for a medal after a strong season, bowed out with a best of 1.93m. Despite the disappointment, she made history earlier in the season by becoming the first British woman to clear 2.00m.

She said: "Obviously it’s not the medal I wanted but top eight at a World Championships, after a year of so much change, I thought I would be more disappointed. People at home might be disappointed but I’m so proud of myself for picking myself up this year, jumping two metres, changing my set up and loving life, loving athletics.

"It didn’t quite work out there, I trusted myself the whole time and I was really happy with my prep. I don’t quite know what went wrong at 1.97m, it’s frustrating not to have got that here, but I still have many years and hopefully one day that medal will come. I don’t know when or if but I just have to enjoy the sport and get as much out of it as I can.

"It is absolutely biblical rain now and that started at the 1.97m mark, there has been a few occasions this year when it has started raining and my brain kind of switched to that, switched to the 5000m that was going around, trying to manage so many things at the same time. It’s not an excuse but that’s something I really need to work on, just really staying in my bubble in that moment."