Going to New York to buy an engagement ring: how Ukrainian champion Maguchikh got married, who her lover is, and why the wedding is postponed

Nazar Stepanov, a promising Ukrainian hurdler, told us about the beginning of his love story with Olympic champion and world record holder in high jump Yaroslava Maguchikh. The son of Maguchikh's coach, Tatiana Stepanova, has been asking the titled beauty out since he was 16 and picked out an engagement ring for her in New York.

In a conversation with OBOZ.UA, the 20-year-old Dnipro athlete recalled that it all started when he and Yaroslava were preparing for a competition together.

"At first we trained in the same group, I saw her every day, and the stars aligned so well that I fell in love. And when I turned 16, I started asking her out. So, in principle, our love story is quite simple, without anything like that," Stepanov said.

"Well, first of all, I fell in love with the way she treats everything. I saw how she behaved in training, what she was like in life. And I liked it, so I fell in love with these qualities. Of course, she's also very beautiful, and I couldn't pass up a girl like that," the runner admitted.

According to Nazar, the champion of all that is possible in her sport is "very simple in life, just as you see her, without any embellishments."

Stepanov also admitted that he gets very nervous during his beloved's competitions. It was especially difficult during the final of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, where Maguchikh won gold for the first time.

"I am a very strong fan, honestly. I get really excited before each of her jumps. My heart is in my throat. It's stressful for me because I'm an athlete myself and I know what she's going through. I watched all of her jumps at the Olympics, but I would like to close my eyes and not see it, because it was... How it was," Nazar recalled.

The hurdler proposed to his beloved last fall in the United States: "When we went to New York for a few days, where Jaroslawa was scheduled to shoot for Vogue magazine, I immediately told her that we would go to a boutique to choose an engagement ring for you. As I remember it now, we went to Rockefeller Street and didn't take long to choose, but we found the right place the first time and bought the ring there."

"And then I made the proposal in front of Yaroslava's parents. When we got back and gathered in the family circle, I made the decision," the athlete added.

According to Yaroslava, her parents did not know in advance that she was going to be asked to marry that day: "My dad said: "Well, Yaroslava, you should have thought a little more, gone to another room, so that the guy would get excited." And my mom immediately asked: "When is the wedding? Should we get ready or not?"

But at the moment, Nazar himself cannot say when this solemn event will take place: "I don't know when either, because now, as you can see, everything is very complicated. There is a war going on in our country, so I don't know where and what the wedding venue will be and when it will happen."

In the meantime, Stepanov, who specializes in the 110-meter hurdles and broke the Ukrainian junior record at the European U-20 Championships with a time of 13.69 seconds, is also preparing to storm the sporting heights.

"I plan to prepare for the European Championships, because the last championship in Jerusalem, where I set a national record in the U-20 category, ended for me only in the semifinals, as I faced a Czech and failed to reach the final. So I will do my best, because I have the opportunity to train in the best conditions. So let's hope that everything will work out. I know it will," Nazar said.

Stepanov also admitted that he and Maguchikh do not have any special traditions after the competition: "We do the usual things, like all lovers do, watch movies. We are often together, so I watch her competitions."

"We like to watch comedies because we lack such good emotions nowadays, as well as detective stories. And now we've come to the conclusion that we want to read a detective story together so that we have something to discuss. But we are still choosing the author," Nazar added.

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