Forty-six Ukrainian athletes to compete in 11 sports at Winter Olympics in Italy

On Friday, February 6, the official opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games will take place at the San Siro Stadium in Milan.

Forty-six athletes competing in 11 sports will represent Ukraine at the Olympics, which will run at venues in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo until February 22, Ukrinform reports.

Notably, from 1994 to 2022, Ukraine's national team won nine medals at the Winter Olympics, including three gold, two silver, and four bronze. Ukrainian athletes reached the podium in biathlon, freestyle skiing (aerials), and figure skating.

Ukraine first sent athletes to the Olympics in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway. At those early Games, figure skater Oksana Baiul became Ukraine's first Olympic champion, while biathlete Valentyna Tserbe won a bronze medal.

Overall, biathletes have brought Ukraine the most medals: in addition to Tserbe, Olena Petrova won silver in Nagano 1998, Lilia Efremova and Vita Semerenko won bronze in Turin 2006 and Sochi 2014, respectively. Moreover, the women's biathlon relay team, consisting of Vita Semerenko, Yuliia Dzhyma, Valentyna Semerenko, and Olena Pidhrushna, won gold in Sochi.

At the most recent Winter Olympics in Beijing 2022, the Ukrainian team won only one medal – a silver – claimed by 2018 Olympic champion in PyeongChang freestyle skiing, Oleksandr Abramenko.

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