The Winter Olympics will start in China on February 4. It is time to understand in which sports Ukrainians will be represented.
Our delegation’s total representation will be greater than the last Winter Games – the team sent 33 athletes to Pyeongchang in 2018, now 45 Olympians are going.
Licenses were available in ski jumping and short track jumping (which was not the case in Korea), biathlon, freestyle, figure skating, sledding, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, snowboarding, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, and skeleton. Ukraine has no quotas in three types: hockey, curling, and skating.
Biathlon (10 athletes)
Four women and four men will represent Ukraine in individual races.
The composition of the men’s team: Dmytro Pidruchny, Artem Prima, Anton Dudchenko, Bohdan Tsymbal, Artem Tyshchenko. Women will be represented at the Olympics by Yulia Jima, Olena Bilosyuk, Valentyna Semerenko, Daria Blashko and Iryna Petrenko.
Anastasia Merkushina, who became seriously ill with an infectious disease during the season, and Taras Lesyuk joined the reserve of the Ukrainian national team.
Biathlon competitions at these Olympics will be held from 5 to 19 February.
Freestyle (5 athletes)
Freestyle – the most successful winter species for Ukrainians this season. In freestyle, quotas are nominal – they are won by athletes who are ranked highest in the Olympic qualifying rankings. But each team can be represented at the Olympics by no more than four freestylers in one form.
Two women took part in the Games: Anastasia Novosad and Olga Polyuk. The winner of the CS Mokhnatska stage would also go to the Olympics, but Nadiya got pregnant just before the start of this season.
Among men, three qualified: Alexander Abramenko, Dmitry Kotovsky, and Alexander Okipnyuk.
Figure skating (6 athletes)
Ukraine has officially received a team quota for the 2022 Figure Skating Olympics. It was necessary to obtain licenses in at least three disciplines for qualification. Our team succeeded, but France, Korea, Britain, Austria, Estonia, Belgium, and Belarus, which are higher in the ranking than Ukraine, did not.
Alexander Nazarov and Maxim Nikitin will represent the team in ice dancing. In men’s figure skating – Ivan Shmuratko, women’s – Anastasia Shabotova.
Sofia Golichenko and Artem Darensky have not obtained an independent license in sports pairs but will take part in the team Olympic tournament.
Luge (6 athletes)
The situation with the quotas in tobogganing was one of the most confusing. The International Federation of Luge has announced changes to the qualification system due to the cancellation of training races in the first stage of the COP and problems with the delivery of equipment of some teams to the next stages.
Under the new system, athletes qualified based on the four best results this season of the World Cup (previously had to count seven results).
Two men from Ukraine took part in the Olympics – Anton Dukach and Andriy Mandziy, two women – Olena Stetskiv and Yuliana Tunitska, one couple – Ihor Stakhiv / Andriy Lysetsky.
Ukraine will also be able to take part in the relay.
Ski races (7 athletes)
According to the main Olympic qualification results, Ukraine won six places. But according to the rules, after the selection, all countries had to confirm the use of Olympic licenses. In the women’s ski race, ten places were vacant after receiving final confirmations.
Accordingly, Ukraine, which was seventh in the list of “spare” in women’s skiing, was able to add another athlete.
The team consisted of 2 men and 5 women: Oleksiy Krasovsky, Ruslan Perekhoda, Maryna Antsibor, Victoria Olekh, Yulia Krol, Valentyna Kaminska and Daria Rubleva.
Short track (2 athletes)
For the second time in its history and for the first time since 1998, Ukraine will be represented by two short track racers at the Olympics. According to the results of the World Cup, the quotas were won by Ulyana Dubrova (1500 meters) and Oleg Gandei (500 meters).
Skiing (2 athletes)
Ukraine does not have a single representative in skiing at the Constitutional Court. But for the Olympics, the IOC allocates one quota for women and men and one weak team like ours to promote this sport.
Anastasia Shepilenko and Ivan Kovbasnyuk have to represent Ukraine in Beijing.
Ski Jumping (3 athletes)
For a long time, 2 Ukrainians were in the license zone: Yevhen Marusyak and Vitaliy Kalinichenko. Although they took one of the last places, they have consistently participated in the Constitutional Court this season.
Also at the last moment, due to a similar situation with skiing, 18-year-old Anton Korchuk received a quota.
Snowboarding (1 athlete)
Annamari Dancha won the only quota of Ukraine in snowboarding. She will represent the team in the parallel slalom.
There is no representation of Ukraine in other types of snowboard competitions (big air / slopestyle, halfway, snowboard cross).
Skeleton (1 athlete)
Vladyslav Heraskevych took 16th place in the overall standings of the CS in skeleton, which is reasonably sufficient for qualification – the best 25 athletes go to the Olympics.
At the stage in Sigulda, Vladyslav Heraskevych managed to show the best result in his career at the World Cup – 6th place.
Nordic combined (1 athlete)
The IOC has allocated one quota to Ukraine in this sport. It went to Dmytro Mazurchuk.
This season, Dmytro scored his first point in the overall standings at the World Cup stage, becoming 30th in the race.
Bobsleigh (1 athlete)
For the first time in the history of the Olympics, medals in women’s monobobs will be drawn in Beijing. Ukrainian Lydia Gunko received a license.
The athlete became the third in her final stage of the World Bobsleigh Series, which allowed her to overtake two rivals in the qualifying rankings. Gunko took the last place – Ukraine will be represented in bobsleigh at the Olympics for the first time since 2002.