Exhilarated, start event (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
high jump
'event' is the definition.
(high jump is a kind of event)
'exhilarated start' is the wordplay.
'exhilarated' becomes 'high' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'start' becomes 'jump' (jumping is a kind of starting).
'high'+'jump'='HIGH JUMP'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for high jump that I've seen before include "Event for the upwardly mobile" , "Dick Fosberry's sport flop or drastic punishment" , "If one's for this, it's unfortunate" , "be in trouble for this?" , "expecting to be dressed down?" .)