On May 9–10, 2026, students of the Faculty of Biology and Technology of Sumy National Agrarian University, Yelyzaveta Malkova and Ruslana Meniailo, together with their four-legged pets, took part in the open agility competitions of the Ukrainian SSR “SNAU Cup”, and Elizaveta’s dog, the German shepherd Ulfi’s Dakota, also performed in a pair with the young Sumy athlete Shynkareva Yelyzaveta at the Children’s and Youth Agility Championship of the Ukrainian SSR, which was a qualifying stage for the JOAWC 2026.
The competition was held in Kyiv and was organized by the Faculty of Biology and Technology of the Sumy National Agrarian University, the Sumy Regional Dog Breeding Center of the Ukrainian SSR and the Sumy team “Adrenalin”. The “SNAU Cup” has a high rank of the national CACAg championship and is a prestigious qualifying competition for the FCI World Agility Championship.
Agility is a modern dynamic sport with dogs that requires a high level of mutual understanding between the handler and the animal, speed of reaction, discipline and persistent training. The geography of this sport in our country is rapidly expanding – more and more athletes from different cities are joining the competition and forming an active community. And it is pleasant to note that our university is an active participant in this process and since 2016 has been an annual co-organizer of the national agility championship, and the coach of our Sumy team is Natalia Bozhko, a teacher of canine disciplines at our university, and Olena Spivak, a graduate of the Cynology School.
According to the results of their performances at the competition, Yelyzaveta and the shepherd Dakota and Ruslan with the sheltie Fini demonstrated a high level of training for young dogs competing in the debut category and won several prizes at once. Dakota also became the winner of the junior championship.
Yelyzaveta shared her emotions after the performance on social networks: “And they said that exterior shepherd dogs don’t run agility.”
We would like to note the results of the border collie Alpina trained by Ruslan, who performed at the highest level of the A3 competition, won two second places on both days and, according to the rating at this stage, passed to the national agility team, which is being formed for the AWC 2026 World Championship in Finland.
Sumy National Agrarian University sincerely congratulates Yelyzaveta Malkova and Ruslana Meniailo on their high results and wishes them new victories, successful performances and further achievements in sports and professional activities.
