Ukraine’s Ivan Sivak Makes History With Triple Gold at Para Dance World Championships

Ukrainian athlete Ivan Sivak has become a three-time world champion in para dance sport, winning three gold medals at the World Championships held in Košice, Slovakia. He secured one title together with Olena Dankevych in the Combi Latin Class 2 category, and earned two more in Freestyle and Men’s Singles. This marks the first time Ukraine has ever won gold in these disciplines.

The achievement was confirmed to Suspilne by Volodymyr Murin, deputy head of the Rivne regional “Invasport” center on November 24. He explained that Combi Latin Class 2 is a category in which one athlete in the pair performs in a wheelchair.

“Among the seven participating pairs, our duo—Ivan Sivak and Olena Dankevych—took first place. This is the first time Ukraine has won a world championship gold in this class,” Murin said.

He added that Sivak went on to claim two more gold medals in the individual events — Freestyle and Men’s Singles.

“This is the third gold medal won together with Olena Dankevych at the 2025 World Championships. The competition was quite intense. Victories never come easily. You have to give your maximum effort, especially now, when neutral athletes were allowed to compete — they faced Ivan both in individual and paired events. It was neutral pairs who took second and third place,” Murin noted.

Menwhile, Ukrainian freediver Kateryna Sadurska has broken the world record in the Constant Weight No Fins discipline, descending to 86 meters at the Blue Element competition in Dominica.

Sadurska completed the dive in 3 minutes and 32 seconds, taking ten strokes before transitioning into freefall and thirty-one strokes on the way back up. Event organizers highlighted the exceptional control and consistency of her technique, noting that such precision is especially remarkable in a discipline as physically demanding as no-fins diving.

Earlier, Ukrainian officials condemned the International Judo Federation (IJF) for permitting Russian athletes to compete in upcoming tournaments under Russia’s national flag.

The move, revealed just ahead of the IJF Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi set for November 28–30, 2025, prompted a formal protest from Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Sports, and the National Olympic Committee.

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