Ukrainian pole vaulter Alexander Onufriyev won the silver medal at the World Athletics Continental Tour "Aosta in Piazza" stop in Italy, setting a new personal best of 5.73 m. This is reported by Sport RBC.UA, citing the official competition results. For the athlete, this start served as an important confirmation of his form after the season's key tournament — the 2026 European Championships.
For Onufriyev, the Italian tournament was his first start after Euro 2026, where he entered the history of Ukrainian athletics: he became the first representative of the country in 14 years to reach the final of the continental pole vault championship, finishing fifth with a mark of 5.70 m. Up-to-date coverage of Ukrainian athletes' performances at international events is published on the Sport RBC.UA website.
Return after the historic European Championships
His performance at Euro 2026 was a turning point for Onufriyev: by breaking into the final of the continental championship, he ended a 14-year gap in Ukrainian pole vault at this level and secured a mark of 5.70 m, taking fifth place. It was precisely this start that became the starting point for further work on his form, and in Aosta the Ukrainian managed to add three centimetres to his personal best, confirming a sustained positive trend in his results in the second half of the season.
Course of the competition in Aosta
In Italy, Onufriyev started his performance confidently: he cleared the 5.20 m bar without errors, and then took 5.40 m just as cleanly, building momentum toward the key attempts. The decisive height was 5.73 m — three centimetres above his previous personal best — which the Ukrainian conquered on his first attempt. He was unable to clear the 5.80 m mark, however, the accumulated result was enough for second place in the final standings of the stop.
Podium and a new personal best
At the end of the competition, Onufriyev edged out Swiss vaulter Justine Fournier to take second place. The gold medal with a mark of 5.80 m was won by Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie, who at this stop confirmed his status as one of the leading specialists in the discipline. Thus, the Ukrainian vaulter not only took silver but also updated his personal best, which is important for his preparation for further starts of the season and the fight for top places at major tournaments.
Second Ukrainian on the podium
Another representative of Ukraine made it onto the podium of the Italian stop — Maryna Kilipko, who won the bronze medal in the women's pole vault. She repeated her season's best result of 4.40 m and lost to the winners from Germany and Italy only on the number of attempts used with an equal final result, which speaks to the high competitiveness of the discipline and the stability of her form.
Contradictory data
The provided materials contain minor inconsistencies, which the editorial team records openly. First, in the source text Onufriyev's rival is referred to as "Swiss Justine Fournier" — in the masculine form, whereas the name "Justine" is traditionally feminine; the exact gender and result of this athlete are not disclosed in open data. Second, the specific result of the Swiss vaulter who lost to the Ukrainian is not stated in the source, so second place is confirmed only by the final order. Third, the key figures (5.73 m, 5.80 m by Lavillenie, 4.40 m by Kilipko) are given from a single primary source with a reference to official results, without an independent PDF protocol in the text. These caveats do not change the main fact — Onufriyev's silver and his personal best — but require verification against the official World Athletics protocol.
Context: Ukrainian pole vault in the season
The success in Aosta fits into the broader context of the season for Ukrainian pole vaulters. It was previously reported that Oleg Doroshchuk broke his results streak in the Diamond League, which underscores the unevenness of form among different specialists. Against this backdrop, Onufriyev's silver with a personal best and Kilipko's bronze at a single Continental Tour stop become a notable contribution by the Ukrainian team to the discipline and an argument in favour of its stable presence in the world elite of pole vault.
