Ukrainian Ski Federation’s Secretary General, Julia Siparenko reports on the Ukrainian National Team’s participation in the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships

On an emotional level, the assistance they received from the Ukrainian American Sport Center – Tryzub and its most gracious representatives and the moral support and interaction they had with the Ukrainian-American community as a whole infused the skiers with a new level of courage, enthusiasm and confidence; it made the whole event so much more meaningful and colorful for them and for the entire federation. 

"Such nice people!" – plain and simple, were the most often repeated words from athletes and coaches, after coming back home.

We deem the competition results, on the other hand, as satisfactory, given the dramatic events and circumstances of the past and current year at home. Out of a field of only forty-six ladies that qualified for the Super G event, two were Ukrainian women. It should be noted that several rather strong national alpine teams failed to qualify a skier for this event:  Slovakia, Bulgaria, Great Britain and Russia sat on the sidelines. The ladies also finished just shy of their goals to reach the top 30. Bogdana Matsotska finished in 35th place, while Tetyana TIkun finished in 38th.

Dmytro Mytsak was the only man on the team that qualified for the Super G race. He delivered a nice run in his first world championships, but finished in 63rd position. Olha Knysh, our other rookie  in the world championships, captured a 55th place finish in the slalom.

Ivan Kovbasniuk showed great persistence and a goal-oriented focus, as he qualified for both the Giant Slalom and the Slalom. He finished in 37thposition in the latter event. Despite being very ill, Rostyslav Feshchak appeared for his races, but his poor health showed in the results

Unfortunately, given the difficult times in Ukraine, we cannot realistically set any concrete future training and competition plans for next season. Surely, we will be hold our National Championships in Krasiya Ski resort in March.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all who helped our athletes participate and through them Ukraine, to participate in the world championships.

Julia Siparenko
Secretary General

Ski Federation of Ukraine
Tel.: +38 044 289 0115
Fax: +38 044 289 4757
secretary@sfu.org.ua
www.sfu.org.ua

Esplanadna 42
Kiev 01601
Ukraine