Eighteen-year-old Yaroslav Lavreniuk won the Junior World Skeleton Championships in Altenberg, Germany. The Ukrainian athlete set the fastest time not only in the U20 category but also in U23
This is the first-ever victory in the U23 category for both Lavreniuk and Ukraine.
With a combined time of 1:53.52 across two runs, Lavreniuk finished 0.18 seconds ahead of the silver medalist, Davis Valdovskis from Lithuania. China’s Guoqing Yu took third place, finishing 0.76 seconds behind the leader.
Lavreniuk was not the only Ukrainian at the championships: 17-year-old Vladyslav Klymenko finished fifth in the U20 category and sixth in U23.
Previously, Lavreniuk won Ukraine’s first U20 gold medal in St. Moritz in January 2025 and a bronze medal in 2024.
View this post on Instagram
Before Lavreniuk, Ukraine’s best result at the junior championships belonged to Vladyslav Heraskevych, who finished fourth in 2020.
Other Ukrainian skeleton athletes
At the 2026 Winter Olympics, Ukraine was represented in skeleton by Vladyslav Heraskevych. He was the only skeleton athlete from Ukraine to qualify for the Games.
Heraskevych held his first training sessions at the Olympics in a new uniform and a helmet featuring portraits of fallen Ukrainian athletes.
‘The helmet is quite special for this Olympics. It features some of the athletes who have died over the past four years, — Heraskevych said in a comment to Suspilne Sport. — […] These were people who had been closely connected to sports all their lives — they supported us and were our friends’.
View this post on Instagram
After that, the International Olympic Committee banned the athlete from wearing the helmet, saying it violated the rules. However, Heraskevych said he would wear it despite the ban.
On February 12, the IOC disqualified Heraskevych just before his first run at the Olympics. The committee stated that the disqualification resulted from Heraskevych’s refusal to comply with the IOC Athlete Expression Guidelines.
