Second Medal and a Futsal Final: How Ukraine's Eighth Competition Day of the Youth Olympics Went
Mykyta Kuzmenko is a YOG 2026 bronze medalist.
The Ukrainian team has completed the eighth day of the Youth Olympic Games, during which it competed in four sports: cycling, beach wrestling, artistic gymnastics and futsal.
In particular, on November 8 the national team's medal tally grew by one award, and the Blue-and-Yellows secured one more.
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How Ukrainians performed on the eighth day of YOG 2026
- The day began with the cycling events. Anastasiia Saturova placed 17th in them, while Dmytro Starovoytov finished the race 18th.
- Artistic gymnast Yana Protsenko placed 22nd in the all-around qualification, but due to the rule under which no more than two gymnasts from one country could qualify for the final, she advanced.
- In beach wrestling on November 8, Ukraine was represented by three athletes at once: Tymur Malishevskyi (90 kg weight category), Iryna Bukhtina (65 kg) and Mykyta Kuzmenko (70 kg).
So, Tymur finished the group stage without a single win, while world champion Iryna won two of her three bouts, but that was also not enough for the semi-finals.
Mykyta Kuzmenko also lost one bout in his quartet, but advanced to the semi-finals as the best second-place finisher among all the groups. There the Ukrainian lost to a representative of Azerbaijan, but in the match for "bronze" he defeated Iran's Kiarash Torabi. The Ukrainian came back from a two-point deficit and levelled the score thanks to a challenge — 4:2.
- The Ukrainian futsal team also secured medals at the Games — in the semi-final it beat Italy and advanced to the tournament final. The match ended 3:1.
Thus, after the eighth competition day of the Youth Olympic Games, Ukraine sits 34th in the medal standings with two medals — one gold and one bronze.
YOG 2026 medal standings, November 8
1. China — 17 medals (11 gold + 4 silver + 2 bronze)
2. Japan — 16 (9+3+4)
…
34. Ukraine — 2 (1+0+1)