WUNU student nominated for the Best Young Athlete in Europe award
The European Olympic Committees (EOC) have announced the names of the five finalists for the Piotr Nurowski Award, which will honor the best young athlete in winter sports in Europe for the eighth time.
According to the results of the voting of 48 European Olympic Committees and representatives of the EOC expert group, Oleksandra Merkushyna, a talented biathlete and student of the Specialized College of Economics, Law and Information Technologies of West Ukrainian National University, was among the five finalists.
Despite the full-scale war and the destruction of sports infrastructure, including the destruction of one of the main training bases for Ukrainian biathletes in Chernihiv, Oleksandra Merkushyna managed to win a gold medal in the 6 km sprint and a bronze medal in the 10 km individual race at the European Winter Youth Olympic Festival held in January 2023 in Italy.
Also in March, Oleksandra Merkushyna won two more bronze medals at the Junior World Championships (Shchuchinsk, Kazakhstan). For her achievements, the 18-year-old biathlete from Zakarpattia has already received the Best Young Athlete of the Month award from the NOC of Ukraine twice this year, in January and March.