This Is What Yuliya Levchenko and Richard Mille Have in Common
One thing Richard Mille shares with its prestigious cohort of ambassadors is indubitably performance. Among the finest examples is the watchmaker's latest partnership with Ukrainian Yuliya Levchenko, the current World Number 2 in the high jump. Named Best Female Athlete of the Year by her home country in 2017, the ultra-talented Levchenko will be sporting Richard Mille's RM 07-01 Automatic Ladies in Carbon TPT on the field for her sporting endeavours.
The essence of Richard Mille's alliance with high-performing athletes such as high jump specialist Mutaz Essa Barshim, tennis player Alexander Zverev, racing driver Charles Leclerc, alpine ski racer Alexis Pinturault and Levchenko herself is centred on a mutual desire for ever greater performance, finding form in watchmaking developments. In Levchenko's case, the high jump's requirements of absolute precision, perfect technique and a superlative power-to-weight ratio are tenets that parallel those in high watchmaking.
Achieving the feat of clearing 1.70m to 2.01m in four years, an accomplishment that takes many female athletes 15 years or more to attain at times, the Kiev-born 20-year-old athletic beauty said, "I love feeling the tension of the big competitions, overcoming my stress and pushing myself to the limit. In my experience, there's nothing better than the feeling of satisfaction after clearing a height that you've never reached before.
Her record-breaking trajectory spiked after winning gold at the Youth Olympic Games, leading to a string of conquests at the World Junior Athletics Championships, U23 European Championships, Diamond League and World Athletics Championship.
"What I like about Richard Mille is the idea of bringing together the 'friends of the brand'. It's like a team. Some are sportspeople, but others are not. There are also artists and actors. I love this vision; it's almost as if I've joined a new family," said Levchenko, a born competitor whose commitment to outstrip her own personal best at every event can only be described as exemplary.
