The Asia Cup in the Philippines brought together a competitive field of 56 men and 32 women, with 265 World Triathlon ranking points on offer. Ukraine was represented in Subic Bay by Serhii Kostenko and Sofiia Pryima, for whom this race marked a working start to the season with a clear focus on climbing the world rankings.

Kostenko opened his campaign with a 21st-place finish. The Ukrainian exited the swim in the chase group, around 30 seconds behind the leaders, before delivering one of the strongest bike splits of the day to bridge the gap. He added 55 ranking points to his tally and moved up to 570th in the world rankings. His next stop will be the Asia Cup in Tam Chuc.

In the women’s race, Pryima found herself in the chase pack after the swim, trailing the leaders by about a minute. The Ukrainian produced a composed and consistent performance across the remaining stages to finish 15th. She earned 89 ranking points, climbing to 389th in the world rankings.

Just a week earlier, both athletes competed at the Ukrainian Indoor Triathlon Championships, while a few weeks prior Kostenko had already signalled his form with a victory at a duathlon event in Spain.

The Ukrainian duo will continue their season at the next Asia Cup stop in Tam Chuc, where the fight for ranking points intensifies.