Saturday, 26 October 2024, Kuta-Bali:  Day One of the Ukrainian Surfing Championships at Kuta Beach was run today in 2-3 foot waves, glassy and high tide in the morning then progressing into windy and challenging conditions in the afternoon for the Men’s and Women’s Shortboard Division, with two rounds and recharges competed for a total of 20 heats.

2023 Ukrainian Men’s Open Champion, 12 year old Mark Tkachenko, left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he is committed to taking another championship trophy this year, earning the day’s highest total heat score of 12.50 (out of a possible 20 points) and the day’s highest single wave score of 6.50 point (out of a possible 10) in the very first heat of the day.  Later in Round 2, he comfortably won the heat to advance to Round 3.

 “It was really glassy and good this morning, so it was so much fun out there.  Later it was a bit more difficult with wind and low tide, so I’m glad they called it off so Round 3 will be tomorrow in good conditions again,” said Tkachenko.  “Last time I was in Bali was 5 years ago, and that’s when I learned to surf, so I’m really happy to be back here again, and I hope I can win the championship here tomorrow.”

In the Women’s Division, it was also last year’s women’s champion Maryna Klymenko who displayed the best performance in challenging conditions today to advance into the finals that will be held tomorrow.  “I’m kind of used to surfing conditions like this… in Portugal it looks like there on an average day, except that the water there is a lot colder,” she said.  “Last year in the championships in Portugal the conditions were really tough with big waves, cold water, rough seas, lots of wind, so it was really challenging.  Here it’s a different challenge…such small waves!  But I’m here to defend my title, so I’ll do my best.”

Klymenko got her start in surfing in the unlikely location of Tel Aviv, Israel 11 years ago. She was asked by some lifeguards if she wanted to try surfing.  It was a life changing experience for her as interested her enough to travel to Portugal and take lessons, and eventually moving there so she could follow her passion and surf every day.

Tomorrow will see the conclusion of the event, with the Longboard Men’s and Women’s Divisions, and the Juniors Boys and Girls seeing action, starting at 7:30 am at Kuta Beach.

You can view the format and matchups as well as live scoring at Live Heat by following this link:

https://liveheats.com/events/231179

The Ukrainian Surfing Championship is supported by sponsors Questera, Take High Big Waves Surf Club, Big Waves Development, Giggly Coco, Nosh, Bali Ukraine Network, and mtnwave, and organized by the Ukrainian Surfing Federation (USF), the Asian Surf Cooperative (ASC) and the Halfways Kuta Boardriders (HKB).