USUST Student Sets New Ukrainian Record

A student of the Scientific and Educational Institute DMetI of Ukrainian State University of Science and Technologies (USUST), Illia Kunin, has made a spectacular start to the new competition season. On February 1, 2025, he excelled at the international student competition 2025 BU John Thomas Terrier Classic, held at Boston University Track (USA). In the 3000m race, he set a personal record of 7:52.65, which became the second-best result in Ukraine’s history for this distance in indoor athletics.

The only athlete in Ukraine to complete this distance faster was Serhii Lebid, who recorded 7:41.01 in 2004—a time that remains the national record to this day. With his new achievement, Kunin surpassed the previous holder of the second-best result, Stanislav Maslov, who ran 7:53.13 in 2015.

Last year, also in Boston, Kunin set Ukraine’s U23 national record for this distance with 7:55.54. This time, he managed to break that record and exceed the qualification standard for the International Master of Sports title (7:55.0).

Supporting the Ukrainian athlete at the competition was Oleksandr Ponomarenko—a DMetI graduate and an Honored Coach of Ukraine in Athletics, who currently works in the USA and helps Ukrainian athletes, including Illia Kunin and Anton Kopytko, students of our university.

Congratulations to Illia on this outstanding achievement! We wish him new sporting victories ahead!