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Nicola Olyslagers could not believe the paycheck she bagged after missing the top spot at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship.
Australia's world champion managed to only clear 1.95 m on the first night of World Athletics’ inaugural Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Friday, September 11.
She struggled amid the cold weather in Budapest, as Ukraine's Olympic champ Yaroslava Mahuchikh beat her to the title with a 1.99 m leap.
How much Nicola Olyslagers earned for finishing second?
The runner-up sport earned Olyslagers her $75,000 (AU$15,000), $5,000 more than she secured for winning the world title last year, as part of the record $US10 million prize pot for the streamlined new event that World Athletics hope will introduce the sports to new audiences.
Reacting to the biggest payday of her life, Olyslagers said, "What? Really? I genuinely thought it was just first prize got the 150k and second was like 10,000."
"You are the bearer of good news. That's fantastic," she told reporters.
Olyslagers, who was still struggling with the cold 40 minutes after her event, said she had a hard time with her approach on a firm-surface run-up but, with more than half the field exiting very early, she realised that after two fails at 1.95 a clearance would be enough for second place.
Olyslagers' domestic rival Eleanor Patterson also looked uncomfortable all evening but took joint third with a modest clearance of 1.91 a week after she'd jumped 10 cm higher to win the Diamond League crown.
"It's the lowest I've jumped all year. Really, really frustrating," said Commonwealth champ Patterson. "After the best season of my life I really wanted to enjoy it but I didn't really."
