When Serhii Kysil first came to the pool, he could not swim. Now his list of races includes two Crazy Challenges and five kilometres in open water at Oceanman Kyiv.
To us he is Ukrop: a veteran, a Zhabkolapky swimmer and the reason nobody on the team goes hungry after a swim. More on that later 😅
Where it began
In March 2014, Serhii began serving in Ukraine’s 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade as a senior cook in its second battalion. He was injured in February 2015 during fighting around Artemivsk and Debaltseve. After treatment, he returned to service.
Later, sport entered his life. Serhii tried different disciplines, including archery, and took part in the veteran competition Zvytiaga Veteraniv. Then he came to the pool.
He started from zero: learning to stay afloat, breathe and swim his first lengths. His first race was 100 metres at the SKA pool in Lviv. For someone who had only recently learned to swim, that was already a big step.
One hundred metres, two kilometres, five
Serhii later tried open water. First came 2 km at Oceanman Kyiv; the following year, he returned for 5 km.
Between those starts came training, new goals and Zhabkolapky. In winter, Serhii joined our pool Crazy Challenge: we swam a 24-hour relay and covered 62.1 km together. Serhii’s individual result was 6.9 km.
In summer, he joined us for another Crazy Challenge, this time in open water. Another full day of swimming, relay changes, team support and lots of time in the water.
Our Ukrop
Serhii was a senior cook in the military and still puts those skills to work. On team trips he helps with meals. While some Zhabkolapky swimmers count kilometres, Serhii makes sure they have the energy to keep going.
We love his story for a simple reason: Serhii came to the pool unable to swim and started with the metres he could manage. Now he has five kilometres of open water behind him. How far will he go next? We will find out together 💚