Ukraine at the 2022 World Championships in Athletics: the worst result was not repeated, but for the fourth time they did not enter the TOP-20

At the World Championships in Athletics that ended in Eugene, Ukrainian athletes won only two awards. Both are in the high jump. Bronze among men was won by Andrey Protsenko, silver among women by Yaroslav Maguchy. In the medal standings of the World Cup, Ukraine took 31st place, dropping by 10 positions compared to the 2019 World Cup.

In total, for the fourth time in its independent history, Ukraine failed to break into the TOP-20, although it did not repeat its worst result at the world championships.

Nightmare 2003

Ukraine showed the worst result in the medal standings in 2003 at the World Championships in Saint-Denis. Then with three bronze medals – Ivan Geshko (1500 meters), Yuri Bilonog and Vita Pavlysh (shot put) – our team took 38th place.

In the medal standings, Ukraine could have been higher, but Zhanna Pintusevich, who finished second in the 100m race, had her medal taken away due to disqualification. As, by the way, and the winner of the race Kelly White.

Three more times, taking into account the 2022 World Cup, Ukraine failed to break into the TOP-20 medal standings. In 2009, at the World Championships in Berlin, the only award to our country was brought by decathlete Yuri Kasyanov, who finished third, which allowed Ukraine to take 36th place. Also, one medal, however, silver for Yulia Levchenko in the high jump, was in Ukraine in 2017 – 31st place in the overall standings.

Vintage 1990s

Three times Ukraine finished the World Cup in the TOP-10, moreover, it happened twice in the 1990s. At its debut as an independent world championship in 1993 in Stuttgart, our team won four awards, finishing 11th overall. Then Sergey Bubka took gold in pole vault, Larisa Berezhnaya took silver in long jump, Alexander Bagach and Vitaly Kirilenko took bronze in shot put and long jump respectively.

Two years later, our team had three medals (ninth place in the overall standings), two of which were gold. Sergei Bubka and Innesa Kravets (triple jump) climbed to the top step of the podium, Inga Babakova won bronze in the high jump.

The most successful for Ukraine was the 1997 World Cup, held in Athens. Then our team won seven awards (two gold, four silver and one bronze) and took fifth place in the medal standings – both indicators are still the best for Ukraine in history. Moreover, in the medal standings, our country lost only to the USA, Germany, Cuba and Kenya. In Athens, Sergei Bubka and Zhanna Pintusevich took gold (in the 200m). Silver in the assets of the same Pintusevich (100 meters), Vita Pavlysh (shot put), Andrei Skvaruk (hammer throw) and Inga Babakova (high jump). Elena Govorova won bronze in the triple jump.

The last time Ukraine rose in the TOP-10 was in 2013, when it won four awards (two gold and two bronze) at the World Championships in Moscow, finishing tenth. Bogdan Bondarenko (high jump) and Anna Melnichenko (heptathlon) then took the gold medals of the World Championship. Bronze – Olga Saladukha (triple jump) and Ivan Glavan (walking 50 kilometers).

Seven medals in seven years

Over the past four world championships, our team has only seven medals. And not a single gold one. Also, never during this period of time did the Ukrainians manage to win more than two medals in one tournament.

In 2015, our team won silver (Bogdan Bondarenko) and bronze (Lyudmila Olyanovska, 20 km hold). In 2017, as already mentioned, only the silver of Yulia Levchenko. In 2019 – two silver Maguchy and Beh, about 2022 – we have already said.