Yuliya Leantsiuk

Yuliya Siarheyevna Leantsiuk (; born 31 January 1984 in Pinsk) is a Belarusian track and field athlete who competes in the shot put. Her personal best for the event is . She represented her country at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics and the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

She was a silver medallist at the Summer Universiade and Military World Games in 2007, and a bronze medallist at the 2001 World Youth Championships in Athletics. She was banned for doping in 2008.

Career

Early career Leantsiuk made her international debut in 2001 at the age of seventeen. Competing at the 2001 World Youth Championships in Athletics, she was the bronze medallist behind Valerie Adams and Michelle Carter. Shortly afterwards she won a gold medal at the 2001 European Youth Olympic Festival, beating Mama Fatty. The following year she improved her personal best to and came seventh at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics.

Leantsiuk came third at the Belarusian championships in 2003 and won the national junior title with a new best throw of . She was runner-up to Russian rival Anna Avdeyeva at the 2003 European Athletics Junior Championships. She did not improve in 2004 – her first year of full senior competition – but managed a throw of at the 2005 European Athletics U23 Championships, taking fourth place. She cleared eighteen metres for the first time in 2006 and ended the year with an improved personal best of .

Return to shot put She did not return immediately after her ban and finally returned to track and field at the beginning of 2013. She opened with a throw of , but that was her best that year and she threw beyond eighteen metres only a handful of times. She came sixth at the 2013 European Team Championships and had two podium finishes at the Belarusian National Championships: she was runner-up in the shot put but also took third in the discus throw, managing a best of for the new event. She represented Belarus in the shot put at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, but did not progress beyond the qualifying round. Leantsiuk began 2014 in personal best form, throwing for second at the national indoor championships, then an indoor best of at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships was enough to reach the World Indoor final. She did not throw as far in the final, however, and finished seventh.