In mid-August, the Ukrainian rowing federation held its first ever national beach sprint championship in Matviivs’ka Bay on the Dnieper river in the heart of Kiev. The competition had to be stopped several times because of air raid sirens—the country is deep into a war launched by Russia in 2014, and escalated further in 2022—but athletes were able to return to the beach and eventually crown national champions in the senior and junior solos.
Rowers from four different clubs won gold, though Kherson narrowly topped the medal table with one gold and two silvers. Three of Ukraine’s under-19 athletes from last years World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals won medals in the junior categories: Maria Robul (U19 CW1x at 2025 Worlds) won gold in the junior women’s solo, Maksym Sivko (U19 CMix2x in 2025) took the same medal in the junior men’s race, and Matviy Stepenko (U19 CM2x) finished third.
The complete podiums from the Ukrainian Beach Sprint Championship were:
CW1x:
- Svitlana Frolova – Kherson
- Alla Dmytryshyna – Kherson
- Anna Tillo – Kiev
CM1x:
- Yevheniy Kuleba – FST Dynamo
- Oleksandr Baglay – Kherson
- Danil Binder – Kiev
U19 CW1x:
- Maria Robul – Odesa
- Ksenia Ratushnyak – Odesa region
- Viktoria Shevchenko – Kiev
U19 CM1x:
- Maksym Sivko – Kiev
- Mykola Tomchay – Kiev
- Matviy Stepenko – Kiev