Gymnast of the week: Vlada Nikolchenko

Vlada Nikolchenko is currently Team Leader at National Ukrainian Team of Senior Individual Rhythmic Gymnastics. She was born in Kharkov (Ukraine) 17 years ago. She was brought to gymnastics by her mother and grandmother. Once she realized that she enjoyed a lot doing gymnastics, she focused on serious goals. Then, she was invited by Irina Deriugina, National Team Coach, to train in Kiev.

The beggining of my career at Deriugina School in Kiev was really hard, but the whole team is indeed really friendly. My coaches always understand my situation and support me

Vlada Nikolchenko and her coach, Ireesha Blohina

Her favorite competition is Deriugina Cup Grand Prix, which usually takes part in spring. These year, Deriugina Cup was cancelled because of the COVID-19 health emergency. But Vlada’s goal is definitly to become an Olympian.

“I dream to reach Olympic Games. This idea motivates me to train every single day.”

Vlada is in National Team since 2017, where she placed 8th in all around junior groups competition at European Championships in Budapest. Just a year later, in 2018, Vlada made her debut as a senior individual gymnast, placing 4th in all-around competition. She was one of the youngest gymnast of this competition since she was only 15 years old. Vlada’s best result was becoming 3rd (bronze) at World Championships in Baku in 2019 with clubs.