European diving champion changes her Ukrainian citizenship to Russian
4 December 2025 08:54
23-year-old European diving champion Sofia Lyskun has announced that she has been granted Russian citizenship and intends to play for the aggressor country’s team. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Tribuna.
The athlete complained that she “had claims against her because of her communication with the first coach who went to Moscow.” In an interview with Russian propagandists, she spoke about “sports outside of politics.”
Among other things, she said that she could not train in Kyiv, so she went to Poland, and then decided to change her citizenship in the third year of the full-scale war because of “problems with coaches.”
“We started going to Poland for training camps and often sat there because it was impossible to sit in Kyiv. There were so many different nuances that I ended up going to a psychotherapist and a psychiatrist,” Lyskun said.
According to the jumper, professional standards were allegedly ignored in Ukraine and she was criticized for her ties to the first coach who moved to Moscow, as well as for communicating with Russian athletes.
The president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, Vadym Gutzeit, called Lyskun’s actions a betrayal. He said that in 2014, she left Luhansk for Kyiv, received assistance from the state and the federation, and had no problems financing her performances.
Gutzeit doubts the prospects for the vaulter’s future career, who may not make it to the Russian national team and will be forced to sit out competitions after changing her sports citizenship.
What we know about Sofia Lyskun
Lyskun was born in Luhansk and played for the Ukrainian national team until 2025. She won 12 medals at the World and European Championships as a member of the Ukrainian national team.
Lyskun last competed for Ukraine at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in July. Her best result was seventh place in the team tournament.
In total, the 23-year-old springboard jumper has two gold medals at the European Aquatics Championships and two victories at the Euros in springboard jumping. Lyskun is also a silver medalist at the 2022 World Championships.
She has represented Ukraine twice at the Olympic Games: 2021 in Tokyo and 2024 in Paris. Her best result was seventh place in the women’s 10-meter synchronized diving.
