Ukraine's Okipniuk wins 2025/26 Freestyle Ski World Cup

Ukrainian freestyle skier Oleksandr Okipniuk has won the opening stage of the World Cup in Ruka, Finland.

Source: Champion, a sports news platform within Ukrainska Pravda's holding company

Details: Two Ukrainians made it into the top 12 – Oleksandr Okipniuk and Dmytro Kotovskyi. Okipniuk reached the superfinal, finishing sixth with a score of 115.84 points.

In the decisive round, the Ukrainian performed a jump with a difficulty rating of 5.1, earning 130.56 points, which ultimately secured him the victory. He finished 20 points ahead of his closest rival.

Okipniuk is the third Ukrainian to win a World Cup stage in freestyle aerials after Dmytro Kotovskyi and Olympic champion Oleksandr Abramenko.

Background: The previous day, Andrii Mandzii and Anton Dukach competed in the opening stage of the Luge World Cup.

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