Anastasiya MOKHNYUK

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Created 15 March 2016

Anastasiya MOKHNYUK, Ukraine (Heptathlon/Pentathlon)

Born 1 January 1991 in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region (Ukraine)  

Lives Brovary 

1.75m/71kg

Coach: Olena Stupachenko

Club: CSKA Ukraine

Fair-haired, stylish and always fashionable. She could be a model for fashion magazines, but prefers to be bright, recognisable and attractive in the athletics arena. Sometimes her looks seem to be too bold, but that is her nature.

“I always liked to stand out against a background of all people around me. That is how I’m feeling: special, individual, bold but never indecent. Everything should be in harmony. I like long blond hair, which are flowing on tanned shoulders but everything should be in harmony. My life style is always in deep harmony with my feelings.”

The portrait of Anastasiya Moknyuk, who comes to the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland as world leader in women’s Pentathlon, cannot be full without a three-year-old story, when she stood in the mixed zone at the European Indoor Championships in Göteborg, disappointed after eighth place in the women’s Long Jump Final.

“I came here to fight for medals. There is no difference for me whether I compete in individual event or in Pentathlon. If I decided to perform here that means I had to implement all my technical skills and physical condition. I made three failed attempts and that was unforgivable neglect from my side, if even I had no experience to compete on such a track. I had to manage these details, as I manage all questions in my career. For example, many people ask me why I’m continuing to train as a multi eventer when there are so many high-class athletes in Ukraine performing in my discipline. Natalia Dobrynska, Hanna Melnychenko (now Kasyanova), Lyudmyla Yosypenko… Oh, yes! They are strong! But believe me, I’ll be the strongest Ukrainian heptathlete before the Rio Olympics. Remember these words!”   

Saying that, Mokhnyuk was aged just 22 and it looks like she words came true already at the beginning of the Olympic 2016 year. It’s first time in her career, when she came to the Worlds being not only one of the medal favourites but also Pentathlon World leader.

Many years ago, Mokhnyuk’s mother Viktoriya (former 400 metres runner) took Anastasiya to Ihor Korotun’s training group, sure that that was the best place for the future success of her daughter. At that time, Nastya (short name) was only 9 years old but even then, she was happy to change the dance floor for the athletics track.

“My first coach is a former decathlete. So, we trained all events but I prefered to do hurdles, long and high jumps. In any case, I have got great base for the future during 6 years of practices in Nova Kakhovka. When I was 15 years old, mom offered me to try to enter Kyiv Sports College. We came there to the stadium and looked for a high jump coach. I warmed up when one of the trainers came to me just to ask what I can do more. “I can do all events,” I answered. Coach just smiled and said: “Then you have to be a combined eventer. Do you want to try?” Certainly, I wanted to, if even I didn’t know at that time what hard work waits for me ahead!” Mokhnyuk recalls.

Mokhnyuk endured all loading easily in the new group of coach Olena Stupachenko. The one thing she had to cope with was to get used to training in new team, to build new relations and to share the same room with someone else. “I needed a couple of months to get accustomed to new conditions and after the first year in Kyiv I clearly understood that this city and this school can open many doors in my life.”

Anastasiya needed four more years of training to join the national team. In 2010 she took part in her first international competition at the World Junior Championships in Moncton. “It was great experience for me, as I competed in Canada without my coach. I thought I could move mountains after my personal best in the first event, but a big downpour ruined my plans constantly. Being very strong in high jump, I couldn’t cope with soggy surface and cleared just 163cm and compromised my chances of a good overall result.From that time I know, if you have even one unsuccessful event you have to go through all others like you perform in a new competition.”

Now Mokhnyuk takes any competition as a new lesson for future performances. According to her, she had two crucial and very important points in her career. The first one was when she got injured during the 2014 indoor season and couldn’t go to the World Indoor Championships in Sopot, despite being at her top and even dreaming about a medal. The second watershed moment happened to her also in 2014, when she fell several metres before the 800m finish at the European Championships in Zürich.

“That year I recognised that being really strong, you can miss your luck. But it’s not a reason to lose heart. An athlete has to continue the fight, whether he or she is on the track or outside,” Mokhnyuk said. 

The year 2015 would become very successful in Mokhnyuk’s career, but first she missed the European Indoors in Prague, being injured, and then after great preparation for the summer season she just stumbled in the shot put at the European Cup in Aubagne and continued her performance there with dead pain in the foot. “I had to finish all seven events there because there were team competitions as well. I didn’t want to do a bad turn for my team. Certainly, in such case it would be better to stop competitions and to keep my foot more healthy for the World Championships, but sometimes you must bear the pain and sacrifice your own interests to the national team. That was the time to do it in Aubagne,” Mokhnyuk explains.

Anastasiya was in a hurry to recover after that injury and to prepare for the Beijing World Championships. Finally, she scored a personal best of 6359 points and took seventh place at the Bird’s Nest stadium, despite she even expected a stronger result. “I felt like I didn’t realise my potential. That is why we decided to prepare for the next indoor season carefully, even if it would be better to skip it and to prepare directly for the Rio Olympics,” she said.

“I’m going to Portland being world leader. That is a new feeling for me but, on other hand, it is no matter at which position you come to the Championships. It’s much more important in which position you will finish. I strongly aim to achieve the medal stand in Portland. I’m in good shape, which allows me to improve my PB in pentathlon and I’m waiting for a very close and interesting fight in our event. Fingers crossed and good luck for everyone!”

In 2014 Mokhnyuk graduated from the Kyiv State Sports and Physical Culture University as master's degree holder in sports management. She likes music and dancing and cannot imagine her warm-up without headphones. She is interested in interior design and can spend hours in the stores dreaming how she’ll decorate her own apartments in future. Mokhnyuk has black cat tattoo on the back. “I’m Capricorn by horoscope. For many people black cat is a token of misfortune but for Capricorn-born people it brings good luck. I was 15 years old, when I made this tattoo. Now I want to renew it before the Rio Olympics. My cat should be brighter and stronger and it should help me to get lucky at my first Olympic Games.”

Personal Bests

Heptathlon: 6359    

Pentathlon (i): 4745

Yearly Progression

Heptathlon/Pentathlon:  2009: 4970/-; 2010: 5496/-; 2011:5497/4250; 2012: 5830/3914; 2013: 5941/4507; 2014: 6220/-; 2015: 6359/4707; 2016: - /4745

Career Highlights

2010   11th     World Junior Championships, Moncton                         

2011   15th     European Cup, Torun        

2013   8th        European Indoor Championships, Göteborg     (Long Jump)

2013   8th        European Cup, Tallin        

2013   3rd        European U23 Championships, Tampere                     

2014   3rd        European Cup (1st League), Riberira Brava

2014   14th     European Championships, Zürich

2015   23rd     European Cup, Aubagbe

2015   7th        World Championships, Beijing

Prepared by Liudmyla Iakusheva for the IAAF ‘Focus on Athletes’ project. Copyright IAAF 2016.