On August 31st, 182 athletes and 18 women, both elite and amateurs, lined up for the Ukrainian Middle-Distance Triathlon Championship in the village of Pidhirtsi, Kyiv region. The event featured a 1.9 km swim, a 93 km bike leg, and a 20 km run, presenting a formidable challenge to all participants.
Kyiv’s Nataliia Matsupko posted the fastest swim time among the women (1 minute 31 seconds per 100 meters), with Kharkiv’s Serhii Badyak leading the men (1 minute 25 seconds per 100 meters). Matsupko held a 49-second lead over the only elite female competitor, Margaryta Menshykova, which she extended to over 20 minutes after the bike leg. Nataliia’s dominance on the run secured her a convincing victory. Nataliia, who also leads Vira Oleksiuk in the PTVI Women’s Paratriathlon class, has proven unbeatable on the national level at this distance.
During the bike leg, Dnipro’s Zhenia Ovcharenko caught up to Menshykova, gaining a minute and a half lead over the Donetsk representative. However, Ovcharenko lost her advantage on the run, finishing 1 minute and 49 seconds behind Menshykova, who took second place. Ovcharenko rounded out the women’s podium, finishing third overall.
In the men’s race, the bike leg became the decisive factor. The fastest cyclists were elite athletes from Kharkiv, Anton Blokhin and Serhii Badyak, alongside amateur Serhii Malchyk. Despite a slow swim, Malchyk fought back to finish seventh overall. Blokhin and Badyak emerged as the main contenders for the overall win, with Blokhin trailing by 51 seconds after the swim but catching up during the bike leg. The two arrived at the transition zone together, setting the stage for a showdown on the run. Blokhin ultimately pulled ahead to become the Ukrainian Middle-Distance Champion, finishing 2 minutes and 4 seconds ahead of Badyak.
The battle for third place was contested between top amateurs Oleksandr Khadyko and Anton Lytvynenko, both from Kyiv. Lytvynenko led after the bike leg but was overtaken by Khadyko during the run. Oleksandr Osypchuk from Bobrytsia finished fifth. All five athletes are in contention for world ranking points following the national championship. The top amateurs who competed in the elite category included Oleksandr Khadyko, Anton Lytvynenko, Oleksandr Osypchuk, and Dmytro Stetsiuk, a multisport cross-discipline specialist.
In the overall amateur standings, Nataliia Matsupko was unmatched among the women, while Serhii Malchyk topped the men’s leaderboard. Vitalii Volynets from Ternopil and Kyiv’s Viktor Parkhomchuk were the other podium finishers. Zhenia Ovcharenko and Kyiv’s Anastasiia Ihnatkina were the top female amateurs. Competition results can be found here