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| The Ukraine 4x100m relay team that won the gold medal at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona. |
The Ukraine Cup meeting in Yalta finished on a high note with European-leading times in both the women's relays on Tuesday, the national squads being put through their paces ahead of the European Athletics Championships.
The 4x100m quartet of Nataliya Pohrebnyak, Mariya Ryemyen, Olesya Povh, and Viktoriya Pyatachenko clocked a very swift 42.60.
The first three runners, albeit in a different order, were part of the Ukraine team that won the gold medals at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona.
The 4x400m team of Antonina Yefremova, Alina Logvynenko, Nataliya Pyhyda , Yuliya Olshevska clocked 3:26.36.
Logvynenko and Yefremova ran the last two legs for the Ukraine team that finished fifth in Barcelona two years ago.
Ukraine also moved up to second in the 2012 world rankings in both relays, behind United States' teams, giving optimism that they might also be contenders for medals at the Olympic Games in London this summer.
There were also some good marks in the field events in Yalta on Tuesday.
Ruslana Tsykhotska won the women's triple jump and added eight centimetres to her personal best, her previous best coming 12 months ago at the same meeting in 2011, with a leap of 14.53m.
It was the second best performance by a European this year and only bettered by her compatriot and defending European champion Olha Saladuha. Hanna Knyazeva finished second with 14.22m.
Andriy Semenov was the best in the men's shot put, winning with 20.55m, while Viktor Yastrebov took the men's triple jump title with a leap of 16.95m.