"VAN" (Sports Desk - 06.12.2025) :: At The World Games 2025 in Chengdu, the mixed squad of Ukraine’s national Dragon Boat team delivered one of the most stirring performances of the entire event—four medals, a surge of national pride, and a journey that Head Coach Kateryna Kovalenko describes in one word: “the best.”
The team’s medal haul—two golds, one silver, and one bronze—cemented their place among the standout heroes of these Games:
Gold – 10-seater Mixed 2000m
Gold – Open 8-seater Mixed 500m
Silver – 10-seater Mixed 500m
Bronze – 10-seater Mixed 200m
For Kovalenko, the defining moment of Chengdu came before the team ever dipped their paddles into the water.
“The most emotional moment was actually the confirmation of our team's participation,” she recalls. In a season marked by challenges, simply earning their place on the start line of The World Games—the pinnacle for this non-Olympic Canoe discipline —felt like a triumph in itself.
“We proved at home that we were worthy of representing our country,” she says. That validation ignited a fire that carried through every heat, semifinal, and final.
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