Mykhailo Romanchuk, one of the most accomplished distance swimmers in history, and his wife Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, a decorated track and field jumper, announced the birth of their first child, daughter Sonya, in a joint Instagram post late last week.
“We dreamed, we believed and I am grateful to God for our angel,” they wrote.
Bekh-Romanchuk and Romanchuk married in September 2018 and announced they were expecting in December.
Both athletes have reached tremendous success on the world stage. Romanchuk is a two-time Olympic medalist, having won silver in the 1500 free and bronze in the 800 free at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Across LCM World Championships, he earned four medals: silver in the 1500 free in 2017 and 2019, and bronze in the 800 free and 5km open water in 2022. At the SCM Worlds, he won the 1500 free title in 2018 and claimed bronze in the same event in 2021.
On the European stage, Romanchuk earned 10 LCM medals, six gold among them, and three SCM European medals, including one gold. His lifetime bests place him among the all-time greats in the distance events: 7:40.05 in the 800 LCM free (15th all time), 14:36.10 in the 1500 LCM free (10th all time), 7:25.73 in the SCM 800 free (third all time), and 14:09.14 in the SCM 1500 free (fourth all time).
Romanchuk retired after the Paris 2024 Olympics, where he finished 17th in the 800 free and withdrew from the 1500 free.
Bekh-Romanchuk is a three-time World Championship medalist in track and field, having won silver in the long jump at the 2019 Outdoor Worlds, silver in the triple jump at the 2022 Indoor Worlds, and silver in the triple jump again at the 2023 Outdoor Worlds.
She most recently competed at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where she finished 11th in the triple jump.
Last August, Bekh-Romanchuk was handed a four-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit after testing positive for metabolites of testosterone at an out-of-competition test in December 2024.
wonderful! Where do they reside?
Most beautiful freestyle strokes by the way