With Kostevych and Kulish on the roster: Ukraine’s entry for the World Shooting Championships revealed

Ukraine’s team for the World Shooting Championships 2026, which will take place from 1 to 14 November in the Qatari capital Doha, will be represented by 23 athletes. This was reported by “Glavkom.”

The main stars of the Ukrainian delegation

The Blue-and-Yellow squad’s entry for the tournament looks quite strong, as it includes almost all of our team’s leaders. In particular, the biggest hopes rest on Olympic medalists Olena Kostevych, Serhiy Kulish, and Oleh Omelchuk. Kostevych, like Kulish, will compete in two Olympic events — air gun and small-bore. And whereas for Kulish the second type of gun is more successful (the Ukrainian is the silver medalist of the Olympics-2024 in three-position shooting), for Kostevych the two events are fairly even for her. Oleh Omelchuk will also compete in two events: the air pistol and the mixed team air pistol, where his partner will be Kostevych, with whom he won bronze at the Olympics-2020.

It is also worth noting the European and World Championships medalists. Bronze medalist of the World Championships 2022 in the air pistol Pavlo Korostylov has a good chance to show well. He barely competed internationally this season, but has repeatedly proven competitive in both air pistol and small-bore. In the small-bore rapid-fire pistol you can count on a strong performance from European champion Maksym Horodynets, as well as from Volodymyr Pasternak, who is enjoying the best years of his career.

We cannot overlook team veteran Mykola Milchev. The Ukrainian skeet shooter, even at 58 years old, is demonstrating an impressive level: a few days ago he became vice-champion of Europe, reaching the final series for the first time in 27 years! One interesting development could be his performance in a mixed team with the new star of Ukrainian shotgun shooting, Yelyzaveta Pyvovarova, who will debut at senior World Championships.

Other delegation members

Ukraine will have a fairly strong pistol contingent. In addition to the athletes already mentioned, note Olympic participant 2024 Viktor Bankin (air pistol), and World Cup medalist Anastasiia Nimets (small-bore pistol). However, for unknown reasons we will not be able to count on silhouette shooting specialists (the second phase of the competition in the 25-meter pistol, “Glavkom” calls it) Yuliia Korostylova and Yuliia Didenko, nor on promising air pistol shooters Olha Lepska and Yuliia Isachenko.

In rifle events the Blue-and-Yellow leaders will be talented juniors Mariia Stashko (air rifle) and Mariia Sheinina (air and small-bore rifle), each of whom reached the final at this year’s junior world championships. They will be joined by the more experienced Viktoriia Sukhorukova, who has repeatedly competed in finals at various international tournaments.

The shotgun roster is also interesting. As noted, Yelyzaveta Pyvovarova earned a chance to compete at the senior world championships, which is not surprising. A few days ago she set European and world junior records, so competing at the senior world championship is well deserved for the 19-year-old shooter. Along with her and Mykola Milchev in skeet will be Valeriia Bartyisheva, who performed well at the continental championships in Athens, and Viktoriia Naumenko, as well as European Championships bronze medalist 2024 Andrii Kobzaruk and junior European vice-champion Ivan Rahulia.

In trap, Ukraine will be represented by Nadiia Bulhakova, Viktoriia Mykhailiuk, and Mariia Klekova among the women, and Oleksandr Oles Shliuz and Oleksii Klekov among the men.

Full Ukrainian roster at the World Championships in shooting

Olympic disciplines

Air pistol, 10 meters: Olena Kostevych, Oleh Omelchuk, Viktor Bankin, Pavlo Korostylov

Small-bore pistol, 25 meters: Olena Kostevych, Anastasiia Nimets, Maksym Horodynets, Pavlo Korostylov, Volodymyr Pasternak

Air rifle, 10 meters: Mariia Stashko, Mariia Sheinina, Viktoriia Sukhorukova, Serhiy Kulish

Small-bore rifle, 50 meters: Mariia Sheinina, Viktoriia Sukhorukova, Serhiy Kulish

Skeet: Yelyzaveta Pyvovarova, Valeriia Bartyisheva, Viktoriia Naumenko, Mykola Milchev, Andrii Kobzaruk, Ivan Rahulia

Trap: Nadiia Bulhakova, Viktoriia Mykhailiuk, Mariia Klekova, Oleksandr Oles Shliuz, Oleksii Klekov

Mixed team, air pistol: Olena Kostevych, Oleh Omelchuk

Mixed team, air rifle: Mariia Stashko, Serhiy Kulish

Mixed team, trap: Nadiia Bulhakova, Viktoriia Mykhailiuk, Oleksandr Oles Shliuz, Oleksii Klekov

Non-Olympic disciplines

Standard pistol, 25 m: Olena Kostevych, Anastasiia Nimets, Maksym Horodynets, Pavlo Korostylov, Volodymyr Pasternak

Center-fire pistol, 25 m: Maksym Horodynets, Pavlo Korostylov, Volodymyr Pasternak

Free pistol, 50 m: Olena Kostevych, Ihor Solovey, Viktor Bankin, Oleh Omelchuk

Small-bore prone rifle, 50 meters: Mariia Sheinina, Viktoriia Sukhorukova, Serhiy Kulish

Mixed team, skeet: Yelyzaveta Pyvovarova, Valeriia Bartyisheva, Mykola Milchev, Andrii Kobzaruk

Olympic qualification for the 2028 Games

The World Championships 2026 will be the first qualifying event for the Games-2028 in Los Angeles. The first Olympic quotas for Los Angeles will be awarded to the top three athletes in each Olympic discipline, except for mixed teams, where quotas will not be contested.

It is important to note that the top three athletes are not necessarily the World Championships medalists: each country may qualify only one athlete through the world championships in Doha, so if the top 3 includes athletes from the same country, the Olympic spot passes to the fourth-ranked athlete, and so on. This means the lowest finishing place that can still earn an Olympic quota is seventh: for that to happen the first six athletes in the final would need to represent two countries (for example, China and India).

Important ranking points for the Olympic ranking — one of the pathways to qualify for the Games-2028 — will also be contested.

Recall that the Ukrainian Association of Football published Ukraine’s roster for the Nations League match against Hungary.