Team Ukraine wrapped up its participation at the Diving World Cup Super Final in Beijing with impressive results, newly formed synchronized duets, and a clear trajectory towards the season’s major competitions.

USPORT brings you exclusive insight from the heart of the diving world.

Results from the Super Final in Beijing

Ukrainian athletes return home with two medals from the Super Final:

🥈 Silver in the mixed team event — Kseniia Bailo, Kyrylo Boliukh, Sofiia Lyskun, and Oleksii Sereda delivered a cohesive and stable performance, improving their previous World Cup score by almost 78 points (423.70 vs. 345.80). This marks the national team’s strongest showing in a team event in recent years.

🥉 Bronze in men’s synchronized platform diving — Mark Hrytsenko and Oleksii Sereda scored a personal-best 395.37 points, earning their first podium finish as a duo at this level of competition.

Other results included:

5th place in women’s synchronized platform — Kseniia Bailo and Sofiia Lyskun continue to improve their chemistry, raising their score compared to previous appearances (280.56 points).

7th place in men’s synchronized springboard — debutants Kyrylo Boliukh and Stanislav Oliferchyk earned 351.33 points in their first international outing. Their performance is viewed as a solid foundation for future top-level results.

Innovative Format: Duel-Style Individual Competition

One of the main innovations at this Super Final was the new individual knockout format introduced by World Aquatics: athletes competed in 1-on-1 duels, with each round consisting of three dives — a loss meant immediate elimination.

Ironically, Oleksii Sereda (World Rank #4) faced off against fellow Ukrainian Mark Hrytsenko (#9) in the opening round. Pairings were based on ranking (1 vs. 12, 2 vs. 11, and so on).

Each diver performed three dives in Round 1. The six winners then advanced to Round 2, forming two groups of three athletes. The top two from each group moved on to the Final Four, where all six dives were repeated to determine the champion.

Oleksii Sereda narrowly missed the podium in this intense format, finishing 4th overall.

Personal Coach’s Comment

“After a very successful semifinal performance, where Oleksii finished with his season-best score of 523.85 points, unfortunately, in the final, he failed some of his dives. Because of that, his rival, Cassiel Rousseau, who took third place, edged Oleksii out by just 15 points. We can say that even with some of the dives below standard, Oleksii still managed a decent 484.05 points, while the Australian athlete, with a powerful performance, scored 499.65. That means we have a margin to improve and will work on consistency. From this perspective, I’d say we fulfilled our competition plan,” shared Tamara Tokmachova, Oleksii Sereda’s personal coach.

New Duets to Represent Ukraine at European and World Championships

Beijing marked the international debut of two newly formed synchronized duets, both of which are set to represent Ukraine this season:

Kyrylo Boliukh and Stanislav Oliferchyk will compete in the men’s 3m springboard synchronized event.

Oleksii Sereda and Mark Hrytsenko, competing on the platform, have quickly become the standout pair of the national team despite their youth — already proving their potential by securing bronze in Beijing.

Along with the women’s duo of Kseniia Bailo and Sofiia Lyskun, these partnerships will form the backbone of Ukraine’s synchronized squads at the 2025 European and World Championships.

A Strong Debut and Bright Future

The Super Final in Beijing wasn’t just the conclusion of the World Cup circuit — it served as a critical preparation step for the season’s biggest challenges. The Ukrainian team continues to work on synchronization, consistency, and building a roster capable of standing toe-to-toe with the world’s elite.

President of the Ukrainian Federations of Diving and Artistic Swimming, Igor Lysov, congratulated the athletes, coaches, and the entire national team on a strong international debut and outstanding result on the world stage.

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