Hanna Ryzhykova
Hanna Vasylivna Ryzhykova is a Ukrainian track and field athlete who specialises in the 400 metres hurdles. She also competes for her country in the 4×400 metres relay. She won gold medals in the hurdles at the 2011 Summer Universiade and the European Athletics U23 Championships.Career
Yaroshchuk began her career in the sprinting events and represented Ukraine in the 200 metres at the Gymnasiade in 2006. In 2007, she ran a personal best of 24.58 seconds for the event and in a team with Hanna Titimets, Nataliya Pohrebnyak and Yelizaveta Bryzhina she set a national junior record in the 4×100 metres relay to take the silver medal at the 2007 European Athletics Junior Championships. She switched to the 400 m hurdles a year later and the move proved beneficial, as she won the national junior title and placed sixth in the event at the 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics. She also helped the Ukrainian 4×400 metres relay team to win the silver medal behind the United States in national junior record time.
She was eighth in the hurdles at the 2009 European Athletics U23 Championships and Ukraine came fourth in the relay. Yaroshchuk won her first senior national title in the hurdles that year and improved her personal best time to 57.23 seconds. Further personal bests came at the 2010 Ukrainian championships, as she was runner-up in the 200 m and 400 m hurdles with times of 23.49 seconds and 55.60 seconds respectively. She gained selection for the 2010 European Athletics Championships, but was eliminated in the semi-final of the competition.
Yaroshchuk ran a personal best of 54.77 seconds to win the hurdles gold at the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships ahead of compatriot Hanna Titimets and the two later combined their efforts to claim the silver in the relay behind Russia. She won her second 400 m hurdles gold of season at the 2011 Summer Universiade. She came in fourth in the 400m hurdles at the 2012 Summer Olympics.Competition record
