When the Ukrainian 4 x 100 metre relay team get to their marks in Munich on Friday morning for the heats of the European Championships they will be banking a three-week training stint in Cardiff carrying them into the final.
Kyrylo Prykhodko, Stanislav Kovalenko, Andrii Vasyliev, Oleksandr Sosnovenko and Vasyl Makukh have spent the last three weeks honing their speed and baton exchanges at Cardiff Met after the Welsh university opened its doors and hearts to them.
It all began a conversation between Cardiff Athletics sprints coach Gareth Walton and Ian Bezodis, a senior lecturer in sport biomechanics at Cardiff Met, and led to seven Ukrainian athletes and three coaches being invited to the Welsh capital.
Walton, one of the sprint coaches involved in preparing Jeremiah Azu for the British 4 x 100 relay quartet, met Sergiy Basenko at an athletics conference in Moscow two years ago and struck up a friendship with him at that time neither could have forecast what would occur in Basenko’s homeland.
When they spoke again recently the plight of the Ukrainian sprinters came to light – some were in Bulgaria and another in the Czech Republic - and so Walton asked Bezodis if there was anything Cardiff Met might be able to do.
As a University of Sanctuary, Cardiff Met had been working to support the people of Ukraine since the Russian invasion earlier this year. In June, they signed a twinning partnership with Skovoroda University, in Kharki, which will not only help the university rebuild, but also allow students to continue their studies online.
They have also been working in partnership with researchers at Lviv National Academy of Art in Ukraine, engaging in the Creative Spark collaborative research project funded by the British Council. Academics at Lviv are currently supporting their displaced partners from Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts in eastern Ukraine following destruction in the latter city, with Cardiff Met pledging support for both institutions.
The first postgraduate Sanctuary Scholar at Cardiff Met came from Donetsk in eastern Ukraine after the 2014 Russian invasion and recently graduated with a Masters in teaching English to speakers of other languages and is now teaching refugees in South Wales.
The university also pledged £400,000 over the next two years in Fellowships and Scholarships, as well as a wider variety of projects including accommodation, for those fleeing Ukraine. That’s why the athletes were welcomed with open arms and provided with free accommodation, food, coaching, facilities and physio and massage services.
Their time at Cyncoed has given them the chance to properly prepare for Munich and given them the chance to forget the horrors that have been seen in their homes in Kiev, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia.
“Being in Cardiff gave us a rest from the situation back home. It has given us the chance to prove our worthiness in the fact we are saved from the war,” said Sosnovenko.
“We want, we must and we need to improve our skills to show we are worthy to compete in Munich. I want to show the world that I am a strong athlete and we must get into the final.”
The fastest man in Ukraine this year, Sosnovenko has already raced at the World and European U20 championships and is the team leader. He was given the chance to escape to the Czech Republic in April and has been training and racing in Prague.
"My mother is living in Germany with friends and I was invited to go to Prague earlier in the year. My teammates went to Bulgaria before we all came together in Cardiff,” he added.
“After Munich I’m going back to Prague for a few more races. After that I don’t know where I will end up - I don’t have a home or any money to rent somewhere.
“Things are simply getting worse in Ukraine. We’ve lost our homes, our people and our cities. There is no escape and the Russian military forces are heading towards new cities - the situation gets worse every day.
“We love our country and we want to go home, but by participating in Munich we hope to prove that Ukraine is a strong nation. Physically and mentally it is very difficult for us and while we have received support from all over the world, it can never be enough.
“There are alarms and air attacks every day and you must train while the attacks are going on. You fear for your family and friends and keep wondering if a bomb will crash from the sky.
“We are warriors on the track for our country. I feel very proud to be flying the flag for Ukraine and I always get goosebumps on the track waiting for the announcement that says I am representing my country,” said 21-year-old Andrii Vasyliev.
“Without the help of other countries, it wouldn’t be possible for us to train. Back home it is impossible to train because the sirens keep going off.
“I was only 13 years old when the Russians first invaded and I didn’t understand what was going on. This can’t be right in the 21st century when countries have so many other issues to deal with and should be working together rather than fighting each other.
“What is going on is really crazy - and it has been going on for eight years. By representing our country, I hope we are showing the world we are not stopping and that we love our country.”
There was one final surprise for the athletes at the end of their final session on Tuesday when they had a visit from one of Britain’s finest athletes, and a former Cardiff Met student and lecturer, Lynn Davies. He brought along his 1964 Olympic long jump and 1966 European Championship long jump gold medals to show the sprint quartet what they should be aiming for.
“You have to admire the fighting spirit of the Ukrainians and these athletes have done everything they can to represent their country. They say in sport that success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration, so I just hope that by showing them my medals it will have inspired them,” said Davies.
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