Exiled Ukrainian athletes chase dreams in Albania and fret about home

Albania, but eight young Ukrainian track and field athletes are continuing to chase their sporting dreams. As the four teenage girls and four boys try to honour their homeland with sporting success, they are inevitably worrying about their loved ones back in Ukraine. "This war changed our lives but did not destroy our dreams," said Mariya Larina.

The 17-year-old shot putter, who has already represented Ukraine at international competitions, is aiming to compete at the world junior championships in August in Colombia. She made a name for herself at the Under-20 European Championships in 2021 in Estonia, and the same year won silver at the Balkan Under-18 championships in Serbia. The young athletes, mostly from Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, left their homes with heavy hearts when training became impossible.

"It is very difficult to train in Ukraine now," Larina said. The eight, accompanied by two coaches, left Ukraine in late March, the month after Russia launched its invasion in February. They reached Albania via Poland and their journey financed by the Ukrainian Olympic Committee.

Their hotel in the city of Elbasan is paid for by the local authorities. As the young Ukrainians warm up at the Elbasan stadium, songs by Dr. Dre, Dua Lipa and Ukrainian band Dzidzio blare out from small portable speakers.

Larina, whose mother and grandmother have stayed at home, is glued to the news even at the stadium. "The situation in the whole Donetsk region is difficult. Their lives are in danger," she whispers.

A few days ago she saw that a shell had fallen near her house. Larina said that when she talked to her mother by phone, her mother was "very scared and I didn't stop crying". She said she was grateful to Albania for a