Valentyna Semerenko

Valentyna Semerenko
Full name Valentyna Oleksandrivna Semerenko
Born (1986-01-18) 18 January 1986
Krasnopillia, Sumy Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, now Ukraine
Height 160
Ski club Dynamo
Personal best 1
World Cup career
Seasons 2005–
Individual wins 1
Indiv. podiums 11 (incl. 3 at World Champ.)
Medal record
Representing  Ukraine
Women's biathlon
Olympic Games
2014 Sochi 4 x 6 km relay
World Championships
2015 Kontiolahti 12.5 km mass start
2008 Östersund 4 x 6 km relay
2013 Nové Město 4 x 6 km relay
2013 Nové Město 15 km individual
2015 Kontiolahti 7.5 km sprint
European Championships
2008 Nové Město Relay
2009 Ufa Relay
2010 Otepää Sprint
2011 Ridanna Relay
2012 Osrblie Relay
2015 Otepää Relay
2010 Otepää 4Relay
2012 Osrblie 7.5 km sprint
2012 Osrblie 10 km pursuit
2007 Bansko Relay
Junior World Championships
2005 Kontiolahti Girl's relay
Junior European Championships
2005 Novosibirsk Relay
Universiade
2007 Turin Relay

Valentyna Oleksandrivna Semerenko (Ukrainian: Валентина Олександрівна Семеренко), known also as Valya Semerenko ( listen ) and featuring in statistics as Valj Semerenko (born 18 January 1986) is a Ukrainian biathlete. She is Olympic and World champion, multiple World championships medalist and one of the most successful Ukrainian winter athletes.

Career

When she was in the fourth grade of elementary school, she took up cross-country skiing together with her twin sister Vita. But later they decided to switch to biathlon. She began competing internationally year earlier than Vita. In 2004 she took part at Junior World Championships in Maurienne, France. In 2005 she won two medals at Junior World and one at Junior European Championships. On December 17, 2005, she debuted in Biathlon World Cup. She finished her first World Cup sprint competition in Osrblie, Slovakia, ranking 47th. Valja managed to qualify for 2006 Winter Olympics where she took part only in individual race finishing 46th.

For the first time she participated at the World Championships in 2007 in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy. Actually, Valja missed almost the half of the 2006-07 Biathlon World Cup. Next season was more successful. She won the silver medal in 4×6 km relay event at the Biathlon World Championships 2008. First World Cup relay victory came on January 7, 2009, in Oberhof, Germany.

She represented Ukraine at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[1] In all races she placed between 13 and 23.

First individual podium Valja celebrated on February 4, 2011, in Presque Isle, United States, in sprint. At the 2013 World Championships Valja won bronze in individual race and silver in relay. On December 15, 2013, Valja won a pursuit race in Annecy, France, which was her first individual World Cup victory.

Stamps of Ukraine, 2014

Together with Juliya Dzhyma, Vita Semerenko and Olena Pidhrushna she won the gold medal in the Women's relay at the 2014 Winter Olympics, in Sochi, Russia.[2]

2014-15 season was the most successful as of January 2018. That season she had 4 individual podiums and finished third in World Cup classification, being the second ever Ukrainian biathlete to finish a season in Top-3 after Olena Zubrilova. After Christmas Valja together with Serhiy Semenov she won World Team Challenge. The most memorable achievement was victory in mass start at 2015 World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland. Next two seasons weren't very successful due to illnesses and weak physical conditions. Valja was forced to miss a lot of races.

She qualified to represent Ukraine at the 2018 Winter Olympics.[3] Her best personal result at the Games was 19th place in mass start. She expected to run in women's relay but she wasn't included in the roster. Later she accused coaches of ignoring her results and including not so successful at the Games Iryna Varvynets and Anastasiya Merkushyna in relay team. Her sister Vita Semerenko later told in an interview that Valja cried four hours after she found out that she wouldn't participate in the relay. At evening before the competition Valja posted on Facebook that "we don't have any team", "our team is just ***" and so on, and that she has something more to unveil about the team.[4] Next day she said that she may finish her sport career immediately after the Games.[5] Nevertheless she competed in World Cup after the Games.

Personal life

Biathlete Vita is her twin sister. Valja is married to Oleksiy Prokhor. She graduated from Sumy State Pedagogical Makarenko University.

Results

Winter Olympics

YearEventINSPPUMSRLMRL
2006Italy Torino, Italy46
2010Canada Vancouver, Canada132323196
2014Russia Sochi, Russia19125121
2018South Korea Pyeongchang, South Korea2546DNS19

World Championships

YearEventINSPPUMSRLMRL
2007Italy Rasen-Antholz, Italy369
2008Sweden Östersund, Sweden321620182
2009South Korea Pyeongchang, South Korea26153816DNF11
2011Russia Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia11102416DSQ
2012Germany Ruhpolding, Germany4957DNF6
2013Czech Republic Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic32243DNF2
2015Finland Kontiolahti, Finland153191611
2016Norway Oslo, Norway44382654
2017Austria Hochfilzen, Austria80

World Cup

Individual podiums

SeasonPlaceCompetitionPlacement
2010–11United States Presque Isle, United StatesSprint3
2012–13Germany Oberhof, GermanyPursuit3
2013–14France Annecy-Le Grand-Bornand, FranceSprint3
France Annecy-Le Grand-Bornand, FrancePursuit1
2014–15Sweden Östersund, SwedenIndividual3
Sweden Östersund, SwedenPursuit2
Slovenia Pokljuka, SloveniaSprint3
Slovenia Pokljuka, SloveniaPursuit3

Relay podiums

SeasonPlaceCompetitionPlacement
2008–09Germany Oberhof, GermanyRelay1
2010–11Austria Hochfilzen, AustriaRelay2
2012–13Austria Hochfilzen, AustriaRelay2
Germany Oberhof, GermanyRelay1
Russia Sochi, RussiaRelay2
2013–14Sweden Östersund, SwedenMixed relay3
Austria Hochfilzen, AustriaRelay1
Germany Ruhpolding, GermanyRelay3
France Annecy-Le Grand-Bornand, FranceRelay2
2014–15Italy Antholz, ItalyRelay3
Czech Republic Nové Město, Czech RepublicMixed relay3
2015–16Austria Hochfilzen, AustriaRelay3
Germany Ruhpolding, GermanyRelay1
2017–18Austria Hochfilzen, AustriaRelay2

Positions

  • Position (and scores) are shown in the table.
SeasonIndividualSprintPursuitMass startsTOTAL
2006–0726 (32)53 (20)55 (8)47 (60)
2007–0837 (14)28 (83)28 (58)30 (35)28 (190)
2008–0925 (56)30 (105)33 (61)14 (115)24 (349)
2009–108 (102)19 (195)14 (125)20 (97)14 (538)
2010–112 (159)14 (240)12 (161)14 (127)11 (678)
2011–1229 (32)25 (129)21 (122)23 (73)22 (356)
2012–139 (86)21 (160)25 (107)23 (85)20 (438)
2013–148 (59)10 (186)6 (233)13 (75)8 (553)
2014–1511 (74)5 (328)3 (255)2 (210)3 (865)
2015–1650 (15)51 (43)37 (67)46 (14)47 (139)
2016–1774 (11)73 (13)79 (24)

References

  1. ↑ "Valj Semerenko, Biathlon". Vancouver 2010. Retrieved 21 February 2010.
  2. ↑ "Valj Semerenko". SR/Olympic Sports. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Ukrainian squad for the 2018 Winter Olympics". Ukrainian Biathlon Federation. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Scandal in Ukrainian women's biathlon team". ZIK. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Valja Semerenko claims to finish her career and she won't refuse her words about national team coaches". UNIAN. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
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