RT commentator Elena Vaitsekhovskaya remarked on the switch of Ukrainian diver Sofiya Lyskun under the Russian banner.
“The transfer of Ukrainian diver Lyskun to the Russian flag is, on one hand, a loss, but at the same time, it’s absolutely not a gain.
For Ukraine, it’s certainly a loss: Sofia is a decent team player, was the runner-up at the 2022 European Championships and the 2024 European Champion in synchronized diving with Kseniia Bailo; at the same championship, she shared silver—bronze in individual platform dives (at the 2022 European Championships, she was second in this event), and she dove quite successfully in mixed events with the main talent of Ukrainian diving, World Champion Oleksii Sereda (second place at the 2022 European Championships and the 2024 World Championships),” she wrote.
However, Vaitsekhovskaya noted that the European Championship in this sport is a mid-level tournament concerning results. The main strength in this discipline is concentrated in China, the USA, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, and Russia.
“On the world stage, Lyskun’s individual successes are significantly less important. 17th place on the ten-meter platform at the 2022 World Championships in Doha, 19th—this season in Singapore, 25th—at the Games in Paris. But it is precisely in the individual discipline that the 23-year-old Lugansk athlete will have to prove her worth.
Is this realistic? I think not very. With this level of results, the athlete is unlikely to contend for a spot even in the reserve squad of the national team. Especially since it would be strange to discuss the synchronized events,”.
About the Author
