Welcomed in France, this Ukrainian athlete continues her commitment to liberate her country

Do not be fooled by her slender silhouette and her gentle face. Behind them hides an iron will. Until now, this desire had allowed Alina Sukh to shine on the athletics stadiums. At 23, the young Ukrainian is world javelin champion and European heptathlon champion for juniors. Today, this mental strength acquired with high-level competition allows Alina to face the drama that her country is going through.

Before joining the CREPS of Wattignies (North) after a four-day journey, the sportswoman entered the field of resistance. On February 24, twelve days after celebrating her 23rd birthday, Alina quits her job as a financial adviser, which she exercises on the sidelines of her sports career, to join the territorial defense units. She coordinates volunteers in her town, in Brovary, about twenty kilometers from kyiv. The missions: organize humanitarian aid, manufacture Molotov cocktails but also find ammunition for the Ukrainian army.

Like many Ukrainian athletes who have joined, sometimes going to the front, Alina has chosen to fight, in her own way. Resisting for her is a way of not giving in to fear: “If you don’t do anything, you go crazy with all the bombs falling around you. And you can’t do anything anymore. But when you’re working and when you’re still in action, trying to figure out what’s going on. is going on, to help the army, it gives the impression that you are in control of the situation. You are less afraid. I didn’t really feel the fear”.

Once aid and resistance were better organized, Alina sought to leave to defend her country differently with what she knows best: sport. On the advice of her compatriot, the legendary pole vaulter Sergei Bubka, she agrees to leave for Hauts-de-France where Florence Bariseau, the vice-president of the Regional Council in charge of sport, provides Ukrainian athletes with around twenty rooms in two sites where they can also train: the Creps de Wattignies and the indoor Arena of Liévin (Pas-de-Calais).

This evening I welcome Alina Shukh, Ukrainian heptathlete and her mother coach. They join Elena who arrived Monday at @CREPShdfwatt . Continue to train to continue to wear the colors of the Region @hautsdeFrance mobilizes. @LamblinPhilippe @PatGergS @fdecoster pic.twitter.com/X5Ic0u3kKd

— Florence Bariseau (@fBariseau) March 18, 2022

Alina has therefore resumed training within a structure that offers her a comfort that she has never known before. “Even if there was no conflict in Ukraine, I wouldn’t have such a place to train, confides the heptathlete. I don’t have a training center of this type to practice so much discipline in one place.”

At Creps de Wattignies, Alina found Elena Ivchenko. The former gymnast turned coach was the first to join the site. Other athletes should arrive in the coming weeks. In particular, Alina hopes that Valeria Mykhobrod, a member of her team, will manage to get out of the country. The latest news, the sportswoman was still stuck near Sumy, in eastern Ukraine.

Coming to France with her mother who is also her trainer, Alina is trying to focus on her sporting goals, namely the world championships which will take place from July 15 to 24, 2022, in Eugene, Oregon (United States). It is difficult to know how the conflict will have evolved by then. But there is no question for Alian to demobilize: “I will work with journalists and find ways to bring military aid to my city. My volunteer work continues”, she says.