After the Russian invasion in February of last year, Ukraine was on the verge of disappearing from the skeleton world. This is because Ukraine’s only Skeleton Olympian, Vladislau Heraskevich (24), did not know if he would be able to continue participating in the International Bobsleigh Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup.
While the war continued for more than a year, Heraskevich, with the help of the Ukrainian government and charities, completed the IBSF World Cup schedule for the 2022-2023 season and finished this season in 13th place in the world rankings. In a video interview on the 27th of last month, he said, “I am sorry for my performance, but I kept my right to participate in the Ukrainian international competition (three quotas for players in the world ranking 25th).” “Two junior players are also participating in the Youth Series in Pyeongchang, Korea. I want to help these athletes continue the history of Skeleton in Ukraine and stand at the top.”
Ukraine’s Yaroslav Labrenyuk (16) and Vladislav Klemenko (14) participated in the 3rd and 4th competitions of the Youth Series held at the Sliding Center of the PyeongChang Olympic Games in Gangwon for two days until the 2nd and earned the qualification points required to compete in the Gangwon Youth Olympics next year. built up To compete in the Youth Olympics, you must participate in at least eight youth competitions on three different tracks, including the Pyeongchang track. With the help of the ‘2018 PyeongChang Memorial Foundation’, the two athletes were able to participate in this event without the burden of staying expenses.
Lavrenque received support to train at the Pyeongchang Track ahead of the Intercontinental Cup held in Pyeongchang last December. “With the help of Korea, I was able to train on the track. He also thanked the Korea Bobsleigh Skeleton Federation.” Labreneuq, who won silver medals in both the first and second competitions held in Innsbruck, Austria, never came out of the top 5 during the practice run of this competition, but placed 6th and 9th in the 3rd and 4th competitions, respectively. “I was so nervous in the real game that I made a lot of mistakes. He thinks it is an experience to fix problems before the Youth Olympics,” he said. “The goal is to win a gold medal in the Youth Olympics. I want to show the beautiful national anthem of Ukraine to players from other countries.” 메이저사이트
After watching Heraskevic’s game video and starting skeleton in 2021, Labrenyuk, followed by ‘junior’ Klemenko joined the Ukrainian youth team last summer. What brought Clemenko and Skeleton together was, ironically, war. Klemenko’s house was destroyed by Russian bombing in the Voronyanka region of Ukraine. Klemenko met Heraskevic, who was holding a charity event to give children in war-stricken areas a skeleton experience. Having played as a youth soccer player, Klemenko also showed talent in the skeleton. “At that time, I had no idea what the future was going to be like,” said Klemenko, who stayed in the basement for two weeks due to continuous bombing during the early days of the Russian invasion. Clemenko, who participated in the youth series for the first time this season, became a ‘nuclear sign’ among the skeleton youth players who participated in this competition. During the tournament, Klemenko won first place by dancing BTS’ song ‘Butter’ in a K-pop dance contest held to promote friendship among players.
They do not forget to express their gratitude to the soldiers and volunteers who defend their country every time they finish the competition. Labreneuq said, “It is our daily life that they are trying to protect by giving their lives on the frontlines. It is all thanks to them that we can now appear in international competitions like this.”