hen Miley Cyrus sang about the climb, she might have been referring to Veronika Goroshkova reaching the top of a metal pole suspended high above the America’s Got Talent audience, whipping herself around the rod in all kinds of crazy pretzel positions, and holding on for dear life.
The aerial pole artist auditioned for Season 21 of AGT on Night 6 of Auditions and had all four Judges — Howie Mandel, Mel B, Simon Cowell and Sofía Vergara — gasping and wincing in fear of a fall, but she seemingly didn’t even break a sweat.
Coached by her mother Yana, Goroshkova left her home in Ukraine four years ago to pursue her dreams of performing. “I have been doing this Act all my life. This is my chance to show the world what I can do,” she told producers backstage, explaining that her dream is to one day compete in or perform at the Olympics. “I’m so in love with what I do,” she wrote on Instagram.
Goroshkova has been a cast member in the Mad Apple show at Cirque du Soleil, and you can see more of her incredible feats on her Instagram, where she has more than 470,000 followers.
Sofía Vergara didn’t “know why” she gave Veronika Goroshkova a Golden Buzzer
Goroshkova ended her routine with a terrifying drop, sliding down the pole but then catching herself. She was performing above a platform with no harness or net. If anything went wrong, she would be seriously injured, or worse. And while viewers at home had the cameras to show all the incredible stunts she was pulling off in the air, the Judges and audience members not in the balcony had to crane their necks to try and catch her fast-moving performance.
“We were at a weird angle to look at it,” Vergara noted afterward.
The degree of difficulty did not go unnoticed. “It’s interesting you mention the Olympics. That felt like a gold medal performance in every way,” Cowell said. Vergara added that she was “really really into it” and than even though the Judges have seen “a lot” of aerial Acts, she continued, “I don’t know why I have this feeling like I’m gonna do this right now,” and bent forward to press her second and final Golden Buzzer of the season!
Later, Vergara explained that Goroshkova had done her Act “with a smile and making it look like it was so easy.” Of course, the Judge couldn’t actually see Veronika’s face, but that’s how much energy and enthusiasm the aerialist put into her performance.
