Polish city Elbląg hosted the European Triathlon Sprint and Mixed Relay Championships for elite and junior athletes. Over two days, some of the continent’s leading triathletes fought for medals in the individual sprint races and mixed relay events, with dozens of European nations represented. Ukraine competed across all age categories and in both the elite and junior mixed relays.

In the men’s elite race, Vitalii Vorontsov finished 32nd. The Ukrainian completed the bike leg in the main pack and moved up nine places in the World Triathlon Rankings, where he now sits 284th. He is also ranked 193rd in the Olympic Qualification Ranking. Vorontsov’s next international appearance will come at the Asian Cup in Turkistan.

Serhii Kostenko was unable to finish after the swim leg. Following the latest rankings update, the Ukrainian occupies 661st place in the world standings.

In the women’s race, Daryna Moskalenko, Yeva Soroka and Sofiya Pryyma completed the bike leg in the chase groups. Moskalenko produced the best Ukrainian result, finishing 31st and climbing 23 places to 328th in the World Triathlon Rankings.

Soroka crossed the line in 41st place, moving up nine positions to 294th in the world rankings. She was also 26th in the U23 classification. Ukraine’s highest-ranked female athlete, Sofiia Pryima, finished 47th, collected ranking points and retained 228th place. Moskalenko and Pryima will continue their international campaigns at the Asian Cup in Turkistan.

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Ukraine was represented in the junior races by Zakhar Tsivkovskyi, Fedir Bezlepkin and Dana Soroka. Tsivkovskyi made his second appearance at the European Junior Championships and improved his time from the previous season by 45 seconds.

For Bezlepkin, this was also a second European Junior Championships. After racing over the supersprint distance last year, he improved his finishing position by five places this time.

In the junior women’s race, Dana Soroka did not finish. It was her fourth appearance at the European Junior Championships.

Ukraine’s elite mixed relay team featured Daryna Moskalenko, Vitalii Vorontsov, Yeva Soroka and Serhii Kostenko. Moskalenko handed over in 18th place, Vorontsov maintained that position, and Soroka moved the team up to 15th. Kostenko completed the race in 18th place.

The performance earned Ukraine its first-ever Olympic Qualification Ranking points in the mixed relay, marking a historic milestone for Ukrainian triathlon. Ukraine debuted in 33rd place in the Olympic mixed relay ranking with 172 points. In the World Triathlon mixed relay ranking, the team moved ahead of Belgium and now sits 38th.

Looking back, Ukraine’s junior team first scored points in the mixed relay world ranking at the 2018 European Championships in Tartu, with a squad made up of Valentyn Mariievskyi, Vitalii Vorontsov, Monika Dobrovolska and Sofiia Tkach.

This time, Ukraine’s junior mixed relay team consisted of Dana Soroka, Zakhar Tsivkovskyi, Amina Marchenko and Fedir Bezlepkin. Soroka handed over in 10th place, Tsivkovskyi in 12th and Marchenko in 15th. Bezlepkin’s race ended early on the bike leg. The team had been posting a competitive time and remained in contention for world ranking points, but the length of the cycling lap meant the final leg could not be completed.

Ukraine’s next international challenge comes next weekend at the Asian Cup in Turkistan, Kazakhstan.

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