“I Promised Heraskevych.” Skeleton Athlete Lavreniuk on His Two World Championship Gold Medals
An exclusive comment from Yaroslav Lavreniuk for DeTalks.
Ukrainian skeleton athlete Yaroslav Lavreniuk won two titles at once at the skeleton World Championships — at the junior (U20) and youth (U23) levels. It happened at the competition in Altenberg, Germany, where the 18-year-old athlete posted a combined two-run time of 1:53.52.
Last year, Lavreniuk also competed at both the junior and youth World Championships, but won only in the younger age category, finishing fourth among under-23 athletes.
This year, the athlete set out to win both titles from the start. Yaroslav spoke about it in an exclusive comment to DeTalks after the competition.
"I expected it to go exactly like that, because last year I was first in the under-20 category and fourth in the under-23. But everyone on the podium ahead of me last season was already 22, so they didn't qualify by age for this World Championship," Yaroslav said.
"The season really was tough, and it wasn't clear right away whether we'd see such a strong fight. But skipping the Junior European Championship and instead competing here, in Altenberg, at the World Cup, paid off. I gained more experience than any of my rivals. So it was already clear in training that the results were strong and very competitive."
Yaroslav's gold at the U23 World Championship marked the first-ever medal at that level in Ukrainian skeleton history. Before that, the best result for the 'yellow and blues' was Vladyslav Heraskevych's fourth-place finish in 2020.
"I promised Vladyslav Heraskevych the day before the competition that I'd win two golds, and I kept that promise. There were a few small mistakes, but they were minor. A very strong first run, a stable second one. The tactics worked, everything came together, and I'm very happy with the result," Lavreniuk added.
The athlete noted that any competition, for him, is a chance to talk about Ukraine. On the U23 World Championship podium, Yaroslav unfurled a poster featuring a photo of Vladyslav Heraskevych, disqualified earlier from the 2026 Olympics — wearing a 'memory helmet.' Next to the photo was the caption 'Remembrance is not a violation.'
"[The World Championship is] a chance to tell everyone about Ukraine," Lavreniuk explained. "It's a media platform that should always be used. [Here], I managed to win, to raise the Ukrainian flag twice, and to have our anthem played."
"The sign supporting Heraskevych? That's how we reminded the international federation that their decision to disqualify him wasn't fair."
Yaroslav added that he felt support from his rivals throughout the competition too. In particular, he singled out Team Latvia and their World Championship silver medalist, Dāvis Valdovskis, who held up the sign supporting Heraskevych alongside him, as well as Team USA, represented by the Park brothers.
During the first half of the season, Yaroslav tried to earn a quota spot for the Milan-Cortina Olympics but couldn't get through qualification. As a result, he closed out his competitive year with the Junior World Championship.
"Looking back at this season, I could have performed better. There really were some starts I don't consider great. Olympic qualification is always mentally tough," Yaroslav said.
"Did I fall a bit short of the Olympics? Yes, but some athletes chose to qualify through, let's say, logistics. I don't think it was the right call by the international federation to allow Olympic qualification from lower-level competitions than the World Cup. For example, you can only qualify for the World Championship through the World Cup. That creates equal conditions for everyone, the same level of competition, and a fair selection process."
"But after the New Year, the second half of the season kept getting better," Lavreniuk summed up. "I managed to fix some mistakes, pull myself together, perform well at the World Cups, and post the best results of my career. So it was a good season overall. I'll draw conclusions from this season and hope for even better results next year."
Men's Under-23 Skeleton World Championship Results
- Yaroslav Lavreniuk (Ukraine) — 1:53.52
- Dāvis Valdovskis (Latvia) — +0.18
- Yu Guoqing (China) — +0.76
...
6. Vladyslav Klymenko (Ukraine) — +1.23
Yaroslav Lavreniuk: Full DeTalks Interview
Earlier, in an interview with DeTalks, Yaroslav Lavreniuk spoke about skeleton, the Youth Olympics, and the challenges facing winter sports in Ukraine.