Ukrainian skeleton racer trains at Olympics 2026 wearing helmet featuring athletes killed by Russia

Vladyslav Heraskevych, a 27-year-old Ukrainian skeleton racer, has appeared at the 2026 Olympics wearing a helmet featuring Ukrainian athletes who were killed as a result of the Russian invasion.

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

Details: Heraskevych wore the helmet during his first training sessions before the competitions at the Olympics in Milan. The athlete said that some of those featured had been his friends.

During the training session, Heraskevych finished fifth in his first run (56.47 seconds) and third in his second attempt, covering the distance in 56.58 seconds.

The third and fourth training runs will take place on 10 February, and the fifth and sixth on 11 February. His first competitive start will begin on 12 February at 10:30 Kyiv time.

This is Heraskevych's third Olympics in his career. He finished 12th at the 2018 Games, and 18th in Beijing 2022.

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