Oleksandra Ivaschenko: «It seemed as if I had already died.»

The Ukrainian national team was on everyone’s lips at the 2022 Agility World Championships in Schwechat and a year later in Liberec. On the one hand, of course, because of the political situation caused by Russia’s invasion into Ukraine. But mainly due to sporting performance at both World Championships. With a fourth place in Austria, the 24-year-old Oleksandra Ivaschenko almost secured Ukraine’s first-ever medal at an Agility World Championship. We spoke in detail with her among other things about this fourth place, her career and the general change in Ukrainian Agility over the last few years. The current situation in the war-torn country, with many drastic restrictions at all levels, was also one of the main topics of our conversation beside a private insight into her life. Despite all adversities, we also dared to look into the future.

agilitynow.eu: You and your four-year-old Sheltie, Shanty, have attracted attention with your consistent, fast runs over the past two years. This resulted in, among other things, first place at the Moravia Open 2022, fourth place at the World Championship in Schwechat and also fourth place at the Gold Rush Competition 2022. Things continued at a similar pace and success in 2023. What is your secret recipe behind this consistency and the success that comes with it?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: However formulaic it may sound, success lies in the balance of physical and psychological preparation. Observance of the training regime, in which there is a division into preparation for the season, the period of keeping me and my dog in shape, and breaks. But above all, have fun and enjoy Agility. This can be safely put in the first place of importance.

agilitynow.eu: From a sporting perspective, with the highlights already mentioned, the last two years were probably your most successful Agility years. At the same time, a cruel war is raging in your homeland due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. How do you personally classify the last two years when you look back on them now, a few months apart?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: I approach life philosophically: everything that happens, even the worst, is what we need and what should happen. All people and events in our lives are growth opportunities. Over the past 2 years, there have been many horrific events in my country that make me angry and anxious. I fear for my family and friends who are in Ukraine right now. And I accumulate this anger and anxiety in sports and work.

agilitynow.eu: Let’s go back to the last two World Championships. Fourth place in Schwechat may seem a bit unfortunate at first glance. Of course, it is and remains an extraordinary achievement. Not to mention a fifth place in Liberec in Individual Jumping a year later. Is the happiness of the good performance predominant, or is there ultimately a certain disappointment about missing out on the podium and thus Ukraine’s first medal at an Agility World Championship?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: We have traveled a difficult path, and I am incredibly proud and grateful that my dog, at only 4 years old, has already taken 4th place in the world’s most important Agility competition with the best sporting pairs. My biggest dream is to have the flag of Ukraine on the podium of the World Championship. Maybe it will be me, or maybe someone else; we have very promising pairs.

I would like to describe the already mentioned difficult path that me and Shanty – and probably many other Ukrainian teams had. First of all, she is my own breeding, since we don’t really have dogs for sport. Second, our training conditions cannot be compared with training in Europe. The first Agility hall in Ukraine is only 3 years old, and it is in Kiev. I am from Kharkiv; it takes me 8 hours to get to Kiev. Most of the time, we needed to rent football fields for training. So our training was not just “come to the hall and train for 30 minutes with the coach.” Finding a place is one thing; the Agility equipment is another. Either you buy them for a lot of money or you build them yourself. And last but not least, you also have to be your own coach.

agilitynow.eu: How has your preparation for the 2023 AWC in Liberec changed compared to Austria a year ago?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: I started training in my dream place with Tobias Wüst. If you ask me about my idol in Agility, the answer is obvious. It is valuable for me to be able to communicate and train with someone like him. You feel the experience, the energy of confidence that motivates you to work harder and more.

Also, we started to pay more attention to my and Shanty’s physical fitness. After all, when we’re in pain, we go to the doctor. A dog can’t say that. That’s why it’s important to get regular health checks from a quality physiotherapist.

agilitynow.eu: It feels like you and Shanty have become even a bit faster this year. The fifth best running time in AWC Individual Jumping and less than half a second behind the current World Champion Kjersti Jørgensen underline this once again. Did you work on it consciously or did it happen automatically as you became more confident as a team?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: This is the result of work over the past year. Speed, strength, and head – it is important to find a balance and a golden mean in this. Shanty has always been a very confident girl, but over the last year, I have also paid attention to her independent work on the course. Sometimes she is overly obedient and loses speed on that. So I give this dog 1000% confidence. Sometimes I think if I tell her to go up in the air, she will do it with full confidence. If Mom says it’s true, it’s real.

agilitynow.eu: Where do you see your shared strengths and weaknesses on the field?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: To our strengths, I would say Shanty’s incredible flexibility and perfect trajectories. She knows all the different commands for sharp and smooth turns. This means we can catch up a lot of time on the course. I also love running. If there is a choice to run with the dog or she has to do it on her own, I always choose the first option. In the past, I was a professional dancer for over 10 years, and I think I got this desire for movement from there. One of our unlikely strengths is our straight-line running. If we have a super fast Spaniel in competition, we always lose on straight lines. But then we’ll win on a turn.

agilitynow.eu: What reactions did you receive during or immediately after the two World Championships? Especially from Ukraine?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: I am very grateful for the support and nice words I have received during this time. But until you stand on the podium, everything else doesn’t count. I love Agility for the fact that at the World Championship, every sporting pair works hard and deserves to win. And it’s like a game of roulette: the one who meets luck – this one goes to the podium. So let’s keep working!

agilitynow.eu: I’ve already mentioned it. Ukraine almost won its first ever medal at a World Championship in 2022. There have also been many Ukrainian podium finishes at many larger tournaments in recent months. Where does this strong development of Ukrainian Agility come from in just a few years?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: The first words of gratitude go to the European coaches who agreed and came to Ukraine to judge competitions and give seminars. These were breaths of fresh air, where Ukrainian athletes absorbed information like sponges. It was also important that we started traveling to European competitions such as the Moravia Open and the Polish Open. We were able to see the organization of competitions, the coverage of them, as well as running on modern obstacles, and compare ourselves with other athletes.

And I express my gratitude to my friends Anna and Kostya, who opened the first Agility hall “Run for it” in Kiev three years ago. Their contribution to the development of Ukrainian Agility cannot be underestimated. Ukrainian athletes have a place where they can train Agility in safe and comfortable conditions.

agilitynow.eu: You already mentioned it. The first competitive Agility hall with artificial turf has been available in Kiev for a few years now. What influence does the hall have on the Ukrainian Agility sport?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: Anya and Kostya did the impossible – they built a paradise for Agility athletes in the center of Ukraine. Now we can train and hold competitions at the European level. Athletes (people and dogs) are safe from injuries on uneven pavement and from unforeseen weather. Our qualifiers for the World Championships are held on the Juta Grass, where we can evaluate the actual speed and skills of the athletic pair.

agilitynow.eu: You’ve been living in Germany for some time now – but more on that later. What are the biggest differences you noticed compared to Agility sport in Ukraine? Both in the positive and in the negative sense.

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: Germany has more opportunities for this sport, that’s obvious. There are a lot of arenas and opportunities to train with the best athletes in the world. In Ukraine, this sport appeared less than 15 years ago. We had no understanding of training tactics, no safe obstacles, and no place for training. We had to learn and work five times more, as no one would teach us; we had to learn ourselves. And I am thankful for this whole journey that is still going on.

agilitynow.eu: Let’s get back to you personally. Many people probably currently know you primarily as a Small runner with Sheltie Shanty. In fact, you had your first experiences with Large dogs. At the very beginning with Dalmatian Sherry and then later with Border Collie Asja. Give us a little insight into the beginnings and how you first came into contact with Agility.

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: I came to Agility as a 12-year-old girl with Sherry, a deaf Dalmatian. We adopted her at the age of 4 months and saved her from being euthanized. Since the breeders didn’t want to deal with a deaf dog. This dog had many problems. From restlessness to aggression. Standard training methods of that time did not suit us because my task was to find mutual understanding with the dog. And I found information about Agility on the Internet. Fortunately, there was a place in our city where Agility training began.

It was a difficult path, because if she didn’t look at me, then I couldn’t call her. I spent the first 3 years in constant tears and a misunderstanding of how exactly I could help my dog. But over time, she learned the extraordinary ability to always watch me. Like a Border Collie watches sheep. This dog and I became champions of Ukraine. Then I ran with the Border Collie Asya. She and I made the first running contacts in Ukraine and took 5th place at the World Championships IFCS in the Netherlands. She died at age 13 last summer.

You forgot about the Border Collie Mors. He has been living with me since he was 4 years old. He is my friend’s dog, but she had to move for family reasons, so I took him into my family. With him, we took 5th place in the total at the FCI Agility World Championship 2019. At the age of 9 and in excellent health, he retired and now has the life of a beloved pet with my parents.

agilitynow.eu: Are there things that you took with you from that time and still use today? Or has the sport developed so much and quickly that it can no longer be really compared.

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: Until now, I always have a “Jackpot” in my backpack during training. If the dog does something super good, then she will get this secret “Jackpot”.

agilitynow.eu: How do you actually see your personal development in Agility over all these years? Be it in the sporting, mental area or in handling general.

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: The more you learn and achieve, the more you realize that you know nothing. This is why I love Agility. Our sport is developing rapidly; new techniques, tricks, and sports pairs appear every month. Yesterday we were different, and tomorrow we will be different too. We are real only in the moment, here and now. Therefore, you need to do everything possible now so that, in the future, you get what you desire.

agilitynow.eu: The fact that you have recently been introduced as a trainer at the «Hundesportzentrum-NRW» also proves that you have undergone a huge development. It is probably the best place to Be in Europe when it comes to Agility training. Not least thanks to the three figureheads Tobias Wüst, Daniel Schröder and Philipp Müller-Schnick. There are also a handful of other first-class trainers. Hand on heart. How long did you have to think before you agreed to become part of it?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: Think? For a long time? I didn’t think about the answer for a second! The answer was yes. In fact, at first, I didn’t take this proposal seriously. I thought it was a joke. This was an important proposal for me. When the best hall in the world offers you to work with them, oh my God, what could be better?

agilitynow.eu: In addition to the training courses at the HSZ, you also offer a training diary called Ivaschenkoagility. What excites you about passing on your experiences and ideas to others? Be it as a trainer in the HSZ or on your own platform.

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: It is important for me that people understand that our dogs have no idea about tournaments, medals, penalties, victories, and losses. The whole meaning of a dog’s life already lies in one person; they spend their whole life with us; they have no other friends, work, or relationships. Their whole life is dedicated to us. And my big dream is for people to realize this. Stop shifting your ambitions and problems onto the dog. Our task is to explain the “game of Agility” to the dog and have fun together. As soon as the dog understands the game, he will do everything to please us. That’s when all the medals, podiums, and victories will come.

agilitynow.eu: Do you have a specific goal in mind with Shanty that you really want to achieve?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: Before this, my goal was to be faster than certain teams. We’ve already done this. Now my dream is to be on the AWC podium for my country’s flag.

agilitynow.eu: For almost two years now, your home country Ukraine has been bravely defending itself against the Russian invasion. Unfortunately, there is still no end in sight at the moment. How do you remember February 24, 2022, the day of the invasion of Russia? And how has your life changed since then?

Kharkiv was one of Russia’s main targets in the Russian attack on Ukraine in spring 2022. The battle ended in a Ukrainian victory after the withdrawal of Russian forces. Ukraine’s second-largest city is currently being subjected to increased rocket fire and drone attacks.

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: It was scary. We felt something bad was coming. From my city to the Russian border, it is only 26 km. I spent the first two weeks of the war with my family, dogs, and friends in the basement. Every day, our city was brutally destroyed piece by piece by all kinds of missiles. One day, I went into the house to pick up food for the dogs, and at that moment, a fighter jet flew right over the roof of my house. I will remember this moment for the rest of my life. It seemed as if I had already died.

It was the moment when we decided that it couldn’t continue like this, and we left Kharkiv. I have changed a lot over the past two years. You must understand that for me, it is the best city in the world, the capital of my world, and my heart. I have never thought about moving in my life. I had already found a place and was preparing a project for the construction of an Agility arena in Kharkiv. But life has shown that I am brave enough to leave my family and country and start everything from scratch in a foreign country with a foreign language.

agilitynow.eu: When the war broke out, you fled to Münster in northwestern Germany. But your family stayed in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine. A city that was particularly heavily bombed by the Russian ground offensive at the start of the war. Last year you traveled back to Ukraine for New Year’s and later once in April. What were your impressions during your stay?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: Kharkiv is the most courageous and patriotic city in the world. Although 80% of the residents speak Russian, not Ukrainian. But these people “think” in Ukrainian and are ready to do anything to protect their city and their country.

Kharkiv is still the same: strong, powerful, but very beaten… In the center, almost every house has no or broken windows, and sometimes no roof or walls. But the city is still the cleanest and bravest on the planet. For example, the city center. Only an hour after a rocket hit the building, people had already started to clean up the streets from the consequences. The consequences are visible only in the destroyed houses, covered with fabric and boarded-up windows.

agilitynow.eu: The fact that you were able to take part in the World Championship was anything but a given. During mentioned stay around April, you also took part in one of the AWC qualifiers and won all the runs and the combined ranking. You had to skip the other qualifications. What would you have done if the first qualification hadn’t been so successful?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: Then I had a plan to come to the last qualifiers of the season. But this is difficult to implement since the journey takes 2-3 days and I need to combine this trip also with my work.

agilitynow.eu: How are people in the city dealing with the extraordinary situation? Or to put it another way, is a regular life even possible under these circumstances? The front line is still only a few kilometers away and bombing raids are unfortunately still commonplace.

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: It sounds scary, but people have learned to live in war conditions. Shops and public transport are open as normal, and people continue to live their lives even in the face of danger to their lives. Their lives could end at any moment. This should not be the case, so the world must make every effort to stop the destruction of an entire nation by an aggressor country.

agilitynow.eu: What exactly brought you to Münster of all places and not to another German city or even another country?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: I had friends here with whom I lived for the first two months. On the first day in Germany, I looked at the HSZ Hall on the map. As a surprise, it would only take me two hours to get there! This was a sign that this place was right for me. Before the war, I was planning a trip to train with Tobias Wüst. I wasn’t afraid of traveling for three days for an hour-long training session.

agilitynow.eu: Even if you haven’t lived in Germany for very long, you already speak German very well. How important was it for you to learn the language as quickly as possible?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: The language of the country and my ability to speak it are indicators of respect for me. I’m not a tourist; I’ve been living here for two years, and I have to respect the country that gave me a feeling of security. German is not the easiest language… But it is very beautiful! I fell in love with certain words, and I can’t even find a literal translation for them in my native language.

agilitynow.eu: Let’s take another look into the future. Or at least we are trying, given the current situation in Ukraine. What does your personal future look like, assuming that the illegal invasion of Russia will hopefully soon be over and the Russian army will leave without having achieved anything?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: Victory will be on the side of Ukraine; this is unconditional. “After all, light overcomes even the strongest darkness,” as they said in Harry Potter. Ukraine will defeat Voldemort; there is no doubt about it. “What are your plans?” This is the most difficult question I have heard in the past two years. And I can honestly answer that I have a plan for the near future and “desired” long-term plans. But as life shows, it doesn’t care what we plan; life already has its own plan for everything, and we cannot control it.

In the near future, my plans are to develop professionally in Agility and marketing, develop the activities of my kennel, improve my German, and enjoy every second! You need to live in the moment, here and now, and try every day to be better than you were yesterday.

agilitynow.eu: What do you have planned for the year 2024 or is at least on your wish list in terms of competition?

Oleksandra Ivaschenko: I plan to go to the Slovenia Open, Moravia Open, and Gold Rush (if I’m lucky and my application is accepted, haha). Most likely, this year there will be no AWC or EO since Shanty cannot take part in the qualifying competitions. The reason is that Shanty has her first offspring this spring.

agilitynow.eu: Finally, our traditional short question-and-answer game:

I would like … all wars on the planet to stop.
Ukraine is … freedom, strength, wisdom, my soul.
I look forward to this highlight every year … to the first warm, sunny spring day for a walk in the forest with birds in the air.
That’s what I wish for my sport … more sincerity and kindness and less cruelty and lies.
The 50 year old Oleksandra Ivaschenko will be … will become a person who changes our world for the better and motivates people.