Vladislav Bykanov

Bykanov was born in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union and moved to Israel in 1994, aged five.[4] He spent most of his life in Kiryat Shmona and began speed skating at age eight.[4][2] His introduction to skating came through a class in Metula; when the class later disappeared, he continued pursuing the sport and sought training opportunities abroad, first in Canada and later in the Netherlands.[5]

Bykanov served in the Israel Defense Forces as an outstanding sportsman.[2] Before the 2014 Winter Olympics, he trained in the Netherlands with the Dutch team.[2] His later training arrangements continued to connect Israel and the Netherlands: in January 2018 he was spending most of the year training in the Netherlands, and a profile ahead of Beijing 2022 described him as dividing his time between Kiryat Shmona and Heerenveen.[6][4]

Before his Olympic debut in 2014, Bykanov had placed tenth at the most recent European Championships, following a fifth-place finish the previous year.[2] At the Sochi Winter Olympics, he carried Israel’s flag in the opening ceremony and did not advance beyond the qualifying rounds.[2][6] His best placement was 19th in the 500 metres, while in the 1,500 metres he missed a semifinal place by 0.76 seconds.[7][8]

In December 2014, Bykanov finished fourth in the 1,500 metres at a short-track World Cup competition in Seoul, recording 2:20.932.[9] The South Korean third-place finisher recorded 2:20.851, narrowly ahead of him; Bykanov’s fourth place was his highest finish to that point at an international competition of that level.[9] He went on to win the 3,000-metre gold medal at the 2015 European Championships, in a distance outside the Olympic programme.[6]

Bykanov won bronze in the 1,500 metres at the 2017 European Championships in Italy.[6] His European Championship results in 2018 included gold in the 3,000 metres, silver in the overall classification, and bronze in the 1,500 metres.[10] By January 2018, he had also reached semifinals at World Championships.[6]

At the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Bykanov was disqualified in the 1,000- and 1,500-metre events.[11] In the 500-metre qualifying round, he recorded 47.177 seconds and ranked 31st among 34 competitors.[11]

At the 2019 European Championships in the Netherlands, Bykanov took silver in the non-Olympic 3,000 metres with a time of 4:44.701.[10] He moved from the back of the field to the lead with ten laps remaining before finishing second to Italy’s Yuri Confortola.[10] The medal extended his run of European Championship podium finishes to three consecutive championships.[10] In the 1,000 metres at the same championships, he advanced from his quarterfinal after finishing second in 1:26.019, but a collision with an Italian skater led to his disqualification in the semifinal, leaving him ninth overall in that event.[10] He subsequently won bronze in the 1,500 metres at the 2020 European Short Track Speed Skating Championships.[7]

Beijing 2022 was Bykanov’s third Winter Olympics, and he was entered in the 500-, 1,000-, and 1,500-metre events.[12] He belonged to a six-athlete Israeli delegation alongside alpine skiers Barnabas Szollos and Noa Szollos, figure skater Alexei Bichenko, and pairs figure skaters Hailey Kops and Yevgeny Krasnopolsky.[13] Before the Games, at a press conference in Holon, he said that “it was a great honor to represent the State of Israel” and that the team would perform to the best of its abilities.[7]

At Beijing, Bykanov advanced to the 500-metre quarterfinal and the 1,500-metre semifinal, ultimately placing 12th and 17th in those events respectively.[3] In the 1,500-metre quarterfinal, he set a personal best of approximately 2:09.95.[3][14] He finished sixth in his 1,500-metre semifinal and third in his 500-metre quarterfinal, recording 41.17 seconds in the latter race.[14] These results made Beijing his most successful Olympics.[3] In February 2022, he intended to continue competing and had set his sights on the 2026 Winter Olympics.[7]

Bykanov’s Beijing results established a new Olympic benchmark for Israeli speed skating, with his 12th-place finish in the 500 metres and 17th-place finish in the 1,500 metres constituting the country’s best performance in the sport at that time.[3] His European record included two 3,000-metre titles and an overall silver medal in 2018, alongside podium finishes in the Olympic 1,500-metre distance.[10][1]

His international career developed despite limited infrastructure for speed skating in Israel.[5] A 2018 profile identified him as the country’s only Olympic speed skater and described the discipline locally as lacking facilities, youth athletes, coaches, and children’s classes.[5] After the disappearance of his introductory class in Metula, he continued the sport through training abroad.[5]

Bykanov repeatedly emphasized his attachment to representing Israel.[2][7] Before the Sochi Games, he said, “For me, representing Israel is everything. I have never felt like I was anything else (than Israeli),” explaining that he had grown up and entered the sport in Israel.[2]