Nicola Olyslagers

Nicola Olyslagers
Olyslagers in 2020
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born (1996-12-28) 28 December 1996
North Gosford, New South Wales, Australia
EducationUniversity of Sydney[1]
Height1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Weight63 kg (139 lb)[2]
Sport
SportAthletics
Event
High jump
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals
World finals
  • 2023 Budapest
  • High jump,  Bronze
  • 2025 Tokyo
  • High jump,  Gold
Personal best
  • High jump: 2.04 m (6 ft 8+1⁄4 in) AR (Zurich 2025)
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
2020 Tokyo High jump
2024 Paris High jump
World Championships
2025 Tokyo High jump
2023 Budapest High jump
World Indoor Championships
2024 Glasgow High jump
2025 Nanjing High jump
2026 Toruń High jump
Diamond League
2023 High jump
2024 High jump
2025 High jump
Commonwealth Games
2018 Gold Coast High jump

Nicola Lauren Olyslagers (née McDermott[3]) (born 28 December 1996) is an Australian high jumper.[4] She won the silver medal at the Tokyo 2020[5][6] and Paris 2024[7] Olympics, the bronze medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships and the gold medal at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in the high jump. Olyslagers is the current high jump Oceanian record holder, 2025 Diamond League title holder and the world champion at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships.[8]

Career

Olyslagers competed in the women's high jump at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.[9] Olyslagers also competed in the women's high jump at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where she achieved a personal best jump of 1.91m and won the bronze medal.[10] On 20 June 2019, Olyslagers jumped a personal best of 1.96m at Mestský Stadion, Ostrava, Czech Republic.[11] Achieving a new personal best of 1.98 m in Sinn, Germany, on 29 August 2020,[12] she rose to second place in the all-time list of Australian women high jumpers.[13][14]

Olyslagers set Australian and Oceanian records with a personal best 2.00 m jump on 18 April 2021.[15][16] She improved her personal best to 2.01 in Stockholm on 4 July 2021 and to 2.02 at the Tokyo Olympics on 7 August 2021, winning silver.[17]

In March 2024, Olyslagers won a gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.[8]

After her 2025 season, in which she captured both the indoor and outdoor titles, reset the Oceanian record to 2.04m, finished the year as world leader, and claimed the Diamond League crown, Olyslagers was named World Athletics Field Athlete of the Year for 2025 at the World Athletic Awards.[18][19]

International competitions

Representing  Australia
Year Competition Venue Position Notes
2014 World Junior Championships Eugene, United States 16th (q) 1.79 m
2015 Universiade Gwangju, South Korea 4th 1.80 m
2017 Universiade Taipei, Taiwan 7th 1.88 m
2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia 3rd 1.91 m
IAAF Continental Cup Győr, Hungary 5th 1.87 m
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar 15th (q) 1.90 m
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 2nd 2.02 m (AR)
2022 World Championships Eugene, United States 5th 1.96 m
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 3rd 1.99 m
2024 World Indoor Championships Glasgow, Great Britain 1st 1.99 m
Olympic Games Paris, France 2nd 2.00 m
2025 World Indoor Championships Nanjing, China 1st 1.97 m
World Championships Tokyo, Japan 1st 2.00 m
2026 World Indoor Championships Torun, Poland 2nd 1.99 m

Personal life

Olyslagers is of maternal Croatian ancestry, hailing from the island of Korčula.[20][21] Olyslagers had always been tall for her age, and says that she was not good at sports in her early years due to a lack of coordination. After she was introduced to athletics at school at age of seven and won the majority of the events from shotput to 200m, her parents got her involved with Little Athletics.[22]

She studied biochemistry at the University of Sydney.[23] Her sports idol is Blanka Vlašić.[21]

Olyslagers is a devout evangelical Christian, and is a member of a Pentecostal denomination that she prefers not to name.[24] She became a Christian while attending a youth camp at the age of 16, and has regularly pointed to her beliefs as a source of inspiration.[25][26][27][28][29][30]

Olyslagers runs Everlasting Crowns, a ministry dedicated to encouraging and teaching athletes.[31][25]

She married Rhys Olyslagers in April 2022,[32] and since then has competed as Nicola Olyslagers.[33]

References

  1. ^ "2017 Universiade bio". Archived from the original on 24 May 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Nicola McDermott". eurosport.com. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  3. ^ "Nicola Olyslagers | Australian Athletics". 18 January 2025. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  4. ^ "Nicola McDermott". IAAF. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  5. ^ "Australia's Nicola McDermott wins silver in Tokyo Olympics women's high jump". ABC News. 7 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Aussie high jumper's stunning silver medal display". Yahoo Sport. 7 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Women's High Jump medal results - Paris Olympics 2024". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  8. ^ a b "Women's High Jump Results - World Athletics Indoor Championships 2024". Watch Athletics. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  9. ^ "High jump Women". IAAF. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Result - Women's High Jump Final". Gold Coast 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
    - "Commonwealth Games: Australia wins medals in javelin and high jump on final day at Carrara Stadium". ABC News. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  11. ^ "World Rankings: Women's High Jump", World Athletics.
  12. ^ "Weekly Results Wrap". Inside Athletics. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  13. ^ "Nicola McDermott continues her rise clearing 1.98m". www.athletics.com.au. September 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  14. ^ Gleeson, Michael (3 September 2020). "Athletics Australia coach to walk out, head up UK Athletics". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  15. ^ https://www.abc.net.au/article/100077512
  16. ^ "High jumper Nicola McDermott the first Australian woman to clear 2m". TheGuardian.com. 18 April 2021.
  17. ^ "Nicola OLYSLAGERS | Profile | World Athletics". worldathletics.org.
  18. ^ "Olyslagers Crowned World Athletics Field Athlete of the Year". athletics.com.au.
  19. ^ "Nicola Olyslagers and Bruce McAvaney honoured at World Athletics Awards". www.abc.net.au.
  20. ^ "Nicola McDermott – the Australian high jump star with Croatian roots – excited to be competing in Zagreb". Croatia Week. 14 September 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  21. ^ a b Božičević, Vedran (7 August 2021). "Srebro dolazi na Korčulu, osvojila ga je djevojka čiji je uzor Blanka! Čudo iz Ukrajine bez zlata..." [The silver is coming to Korčula, it was won by a girl whose idol is Blanka! No gold for the Ukrainian wunderkind...]. Sportske novosti (in Croatian). Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  22. ^ "Nicola McDermott". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  23. ^ "Train Smarter with Science Podcast: Australian High Jumper, Nicola Mcdermott on Qualifying for Tokyo 2020 and Using Cues on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  24. ^ "Higher purpose: Faith drives evangelical McDermott to a silver medal". The Age. 7 August 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  25. ^ a b Balaranjan, Andrew (29 June 2020). "Live With Nicola McDermott #HighJumper #Encouragement #Faith". YouTube. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  26. ^ "McDermott set to soar to a medal in Tokyo". Perth Now. 18 July 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  27. ^ "Nicola McDermott: The Medal is Silver But The Speech Is Gold". Eternity News. 7 August 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  28. ^ "The inspirational message Nicola McDermott wrote before winning Olympic silver". 7 News. 9 August 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  29. ^ ""High jump is a platform to make Jesus known", says new Australian recordwoman". Evangelical Focus. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  30. ^ "Our Olympic High Jumper Going for Gold and God". Eternity News. 29 July 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  31. ^ "Ministry". Nicola McDermott. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  32. ^ Busy year on several fronts for McDermott, 7 News, 3 April 2022
  33. ^ Nina Kennedy, Matt Denny and Nicola Olyslagers earn podium finishes at Diamond League meet, ABC News, 6 June 2022
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