In Lake Placid, a pair of athletes are sliding for Ukraine. They hope better days are ahead

Tim Reynolds · The Associated Press

· Posted: Mar 04, 2025 5:04 PM EST | Last Updated: March 4

The last contention of the headfirst-sliding athletics known arsenic skeleton awaits Ukrainian skeleton athletes Vladyslav Heraskevych and Yaroslav Lavreniuk. After that, they're going home.

They don't cognize what awaits erstwhile they get there.

Heraskevych and Lavreniuk are the lone athletes from Ukraine competing astatine the satellite bobsleigh and skeleton championships that commencement Thursday and tally done adjacent play successful Lake Placid, N.Y. The location they're sharing for a fewer much days is casual capable to find; it's the 1 with a elephantine Ukrainian emblem hanging disconnected the porch.

And arsenic a warfare rages connected successful their homeland — with tensions close present betwixt Ukraine and the U.S. arsenic precocious arsenic they've been since the Russian penetration 3 years agone — Heraskevych and Lavreniuk are hoping that conscionable being capable to vie and deterioration their nation's emblem connected the satellite signifier brings immoderate infinitesimal of joyousness to the radical astatine location who are capable to spot it.

"I deliberation each 1 of america mislaid immoderate friends astatine this point," Heraskevych, who is bidding to vie successful his 3rd Olympics adjacent year, said successful an interrogation with The Associated Press. "My classmate was killed by a rocket and it's truly hard. And my relatives are successful Ukraine. Every hour, each minute, each alarm, they're successful a large hazard to beryllium killed. We person this each day."

It has been 3 years of this, and successful caller days the concern has seemed adjacent much dire to Heraskevych and Lavreniuk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was progressive successful an Oval Office blowup with U.S. President Donald Trump past week; Zelenskyy, successful a societal media station Tuesday, said that country was "regrettable" and appealed to Trump by saying his "strong leadership" could assistance bring peace.

The U.S. has been Ukraine's biggest subject backer since Russia's full-scale penetration began 3 years ago. The suspension of that assistance by the Trump medication earlier this week was viewed arsenic a large stroke by Ukrainians.

Heraskevych and Lavreniuk person watched the quality intimately successful caller days. They accidental they're bolstered by the enactment of athletes from astir the satellite that they vie against, and the colony of Lake Placid has a agelong narration with Ukraine — truthful overmuch truthful that merchants successful tiny shops connected Main Street adjacent archer Heraskevych and Lavreniuk that they basal with Ukraine.

It's not uncommon for the Ukrainian sliders to perceive a acquainted refrain astatine the tracks wherever they compete. "Slava Ukrayini," idiosyncratic inevitably says, which translates to "Glory to Ukraine."

"It is beauteous hard each clip you perceive this quality astir immoderate shelling of rockets oregon drones," Lavreniuk said. "My sister is successful Kyiv and I americium truthful acold away. I cannot alteration thing oregon support my sister, my mother, and you conscionable consciousness frightened for them. You are conscionable hoping that they volition beryllium each right. And that's beauteous tough."

At the Beijing Olympics successful 2022, Heraskevych made headlines erstwhile helium held up a motion speechmaking "No War successful Ukraine" instantly aft helium finished a tally down the track. There person been examples of Australian athletes having their fingernails painted successful the colours of Ukraine's emblem astatine the satellite way and tract championships, and adjacent immoderate Russian athletes person called connected their homeland to halt the war.

Even successful Lake Placid, everyone seems to beryllium rooting for the Ukrainians. The squad gets immoderate authorities assistance, but relies connected backing from different nations to get done a season. Some places adjacent person provided escaped accommodations and crystal clip for grooming during contention weeks.

"Honestly, I deliberation it's truthful inspiring," U.S. women's bobsledder Kaysha Love said. "To conscionable spot them present ... I can't adjacent ideate what it's similar and I benignant of get a small spot affectional reasoning astir it and conscionable benignant of seeing each the things that they went done and past to recognize that they're present doing the aforesaid happening that we're doing, it conscionable benignant of puts things into perspective.

"They are warring for their family, their friends, their country," Love said. "They're lasting for something. And that successful itself is truthful beautiful."

There is nary way successful Ukraine; the squad has agelong considered the way successful Sigulda, Latvia, its grooming base. There is simply a makeshift grooming ramp to signifier skeleton starts — athletes tally on the sled for astir 30 feet, past hop connected for the thrust down the icy chute — built wrong a stadium successful Ukraine, though the past clip Lavreniuk tried to usage that spot his workout was chopped short.

Alarms went disconnected to alert that rockets were incoming. He had to retreat to a weaponry shelter.

"It was conscionable expected to beryllium training," Lavreniuk said. "And then, the aerial raid strategy happened."

Chance to marque history

Ukraine has ne'er won a sliding athletics medal — not successful luge, bobsleigh or skeleton — astatine the Olympics. Heraskevych whitethorn person a accidental astatine the satellite championships; helium has finished 4th successful 2 World Cup races, 1 of them astatine Lake Placid past year. And earlier this season, Ukraine won a World Cup medal successful luge, different sliding sport, for the archetypal clip successful much than 16 years by finishing 3rd successful a relay event.

"A precise affectional race," 1 of Ukraine's luge athletes, Andriy Mandziy, said that day.

Heraskevych and Lavreniuk volition spell location — the travel volition instrumentality astir 3 days, due to the fact that it's not casual to get to Ukraine anymore, for evident reasons — erstwhile the play ends. They anticipation to train. They anticipation to spell into the country's athletics schools and archer the adjacent procreation of athletes astir what it means to correspond Ukraine. They anticipation to physique momentum toward an Olympic season.

Mostly, they conscionable anticipation their state volition beryllium astatine bid 1 time soon.

"It's an highly hard time," Heraskevych said. "At the aforesaid time, we effort to correspond our state successful the champion imaginable mode connected the planetary stage. We effort to compete, we effort to beryllium better, and we effort to execute bully results and bring immoderate portion of joyousness for Ukrainians."