Here is the translation of the article about the results of this event on the official website of the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation
http://www.ukrfsf.org.ua/2025/03/21/yuniorskyj-chempionat-ukrayiny-nadiya-ye/
Junior Championship of Ukraine: there is hope…
The Capital Ice Arena on Shalett Street, after a break, once again hosted the Ukrainian Figure Skating Championship among juniors. 46 athletes of the specified age category took to the ice, competing for the title of champions in all disciplines - single skating, ice dance and pair skating.
In the junior male competitions, all the medals were won by representatives of Kyiv. Yegor Kurtsev ascended to the top step of the podium. He secured a considerable advantage in points after the first performance, and after two programs he scored 182.99 points. Silver medalist Fedor Babenko lost to the champion by more than 45 points – 137.28. Lev Myshkovets closed the top three – 120.99 points.
In the junior female category, the gold medal contender Khrystyna Halyareta from Dnipro, who won the short program, unexpectedly lost her position in the free skate and Sofia Rymshyna from Dnipro also came in first place. She won the overall standings – 139.77. Another representative of Dnipro – Oleksandra Delyamure – rose to second place from sixth in the short program. As a result, she scored 127.25 points and won the silver medal. The bronze medal went to Sofia Hryhorenko from Boguslav, Kyiv region – 125.63.
The situation in ice dancing was not so tense. Odessans Tetyana Belodonova and Ivan Kachur won both rhythmic and free dance and scored a winning 119.52 points. Kharkivns Polina Kapustina and Mykhailo Klyuyev took second place – 103.13, and the Kyiv duo Sofia Rekunova/Denys Fedyankin took third place – 95.21.
In pair skating, Kira Shutko and Vadym Haliareta from Dnipro had no rivals. They scored 89.26 points and became champions of Ukraine.
We asked the chief judge of the competition,
Anastasia Makarova, to comment on the junior championship of Ukraine:
"It is inappropriate to talk about the general level and state of affairs in junior skating at the moment, since for various reasons a number of athletes were unable to perform at the championship. At the same time, participants from a number of cities in Ukraine took to the ice, showing their achievements and the stage of preparation they are currently at.
Each discipline has its own stories, both positive and negative. The situation in pair skating is the least optimistic at this stage. Since the silver medalists of the Junior World Championship Sofia Golichenko and Artem Darensky have already practically moved to the masters category, only one junior sports pair remains in Ukraine - Kira Shutko/Vadym Haliareta. These are quite gifted skaters, but unfortunately, we haven't seen their progress. I would say that the pair is still a bit raw, after last year's Ukrainian Junior Championship, in which Kira and Vadym also participated, there was no noticeable progress.
In ice dance, the leaders Iryna Pidhayna and Artem Koval were unable to come to Kyiv due to Iryna's illness. Also, for good reasons, our other leading duo, Myroslava Tkachenko and Riccardo Pesca, were absent. The second numbers started at the championship, so to speak, and they turned out to be insufficiently prepared. The winners - Tetiana Belodonova/Ivan Kachur - showed a low quality of skating, which does not correspond to the level that they showed at international competitions throughout the season and that Ukrainian dance duets usually demonstrate on the international arena. Regarding the performance of Polina Kapustina and Mykhailo Kliuyev, it is probably necessary to make a "discount" for the fact that this was the duo's first start after a break caused by a serious injury to their partner. But Sofia Naumko and Oleksandr Karpishansky from Kyiv deserve a positive assessment. The dancers started skating together quite recently (they are coached by Oleksandr Tumanovsky), and we have already seen signs that they could become a promising duo.
I would call the level of skating demonstrated by the single skaters average. The girls had an obvious problem with the presentation of their programs. Among almost 30 participants, only five or six showed programs that could be called artistically interesting. Here it is worth noting the work, in particular, the interesting choreographic “finds” of coach Yuriy Rudyk and his student Zlata Omelchenko, Polina Shcherbyna (coach Olena Myhotina) also demonstrated a fairly high quality of rotations. As for the other participants, it is very unfortunate that most coaches do not pay due attention to the choreography and meaningful staging of the programs, which would strengthen the presentation and further reveal the talent of the athletes.
In the male juniors, many experts were impressed by Fedor Babenko. Of course, he still has a lot of work to do, but next season at the Junior Grand Prix stages, the skater may well surprise with his results. So far, Fedor has not been able to compete with Yegor Kurtsev, who deservedly won. It's a pity that in the free program he could not do the triple axel.
I would also like to state that solo ice dancing is gaining popularity in Ukraine. This time, four participants performed in the Junior category and one in the Novice category. It is important that our coaches are interested in developing a new type of dance, and the International Skating Union announced that Solo Dance has already been officially recognized as another discipline of figure skating. By the way, the UFSF has submitted the necessary documents for recognition of this category in Ukraine. We expect approval in the near future.
In conclusion, I would like to note the great and effective work on training skaters by the leaders and coaches of sports schools in Bila Tserkva, Bohuslav, Dnipro, Kyiv, Novoyavorivsk, Odessa and Kharkiv. In difficult times for our country, in conditions of martial law, they find the opportunity to work productively and prepare athletes so that they can perform with dignity at the main starts of the season".
