Ukrainian gymnast Yanika Vartlaan announced last week the end of her gymnastics career. Yanika was born in Donetsk, Ukraine. Her mother is Ukrainian and her father is from Estonia, that’s why Yanika represented Estonia in her early years as a gymnast. However, Yanika have never trained or lived in Estonia. Right now, Yanika is focused in her career as a stretching instructor and doesn’t want to be a coach.

Her Life in Ukraine

In 2018, she decided to compete for the country she was born in. She was invited to train in Deriugina School (Kiev) with the National Team as individual gymnast.  She was the fourth gymnast behind Vlada Nikolchenko, Olena Diachenko, and Yeva Meleshchuk. Yanika is very flexible and has her own designed leotards, partially made by her mother. She even lent her leotards to top gymnasts such as Dina Averina.

Dina Averina (RUS)

Yanika lent this leotard to Dina Averina

Results

Throughout 2018, she participated in three World Cups: Tashkent, Portimão, and Minsk. At World Cup Portimao she could qualified in three of four finals.

At the World Championships in Sofia, she finished fifth in Team Competition. She also qualified for All-Around Final. She finished in 22nd position with two strong exercises with ball and hoop.

At the end of the season, she fell and injured her leg during her ribbon exercise at Italian Serie A.