Ukraine athletes 'feeling lot of support' at World Athletics Championships

“Glad to be present in Eugene and offering a glimmer of hope for the compatriots,” said Yevhen Pronin, the acting president of Ukraine’s track and field federation.

The statement by Pronin, came at the ongoing World Athletics Championships 2022, in Eugene, Oregon, USA. Ukraine has sent its smallest contingent of athletes (22) ever to a world championship, considering the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war.

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However, this did not stop Ukrainian athletes from winning laurels at the championship. Yaroslava Mahuchikh won a silver medal in the women’s high jump on Tuesday (July 19).

This came after Andriy Protsenko won a bronze in the men’s high jump, claiming Ukraine’s first medal of the championship.

Ukrainian flags in US

Pronin who hails from a military family and has spent the last four months on the frontline said: “Our country, our team is still in a difficult situation.”

However, he said the embrace of Ukraine by the world community had been heart-warming.

Pronin will return to the frontline post the championship before making it to Munich for the European championship.

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He said, “We’re feeling a lot of support. The first day we came to a student dining room here in Eugene, five or six people asked ‘can we pay for your lunch?'”

“You see a lot of Ukrainian flags in windows in Eugene,” he added.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. It shook the entire world.