Ukrainian Paris Olympics contender and U20 decathlon champion killed in Bakhmut battle

22-year-old Volodymyr Androshchuk, a young Ukrainian athlete who ‘could have gone to the Paris Olympics‘, was killed during the intense battle for Bakhmut.

It was revealed today, Sunday, February 5, that Volodymyr Androshchuk – a 22-year-old Ukrainian athlete who was already the country’s U20 decathlon champion – died after being hit by shrapnel during the ongoing battle for Bakhmut.

According to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine’s Twitter profile, the military volunteer died on January 25. It posted: “Ukrainian U20 decathlon champion Volodymyr Androschuk died in a battle near Bakhmut on Jan 25. A promising athlete and a true hero, he could have been able to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris, if Russia hadn’t invaded Ukraine Why do Russians still have this privilege?”.

Ukrainian U20 decathlon champion Volodymyr Androschuk died in a battle near Bakhmut on Jan 25.
A promising athlete and a true hero, he could have been able to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris, if russia hadn’t invaded Ukraine
Why do russians still have this privilege? pic.twitter.com/QlYuRoOGg8

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) February 5, 2023

Another tribute to the young athlete was posted by Anton Gerashchenko, the advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, who wrote: ‘Volodymyr Androshchuk, Ukrainian track and field athlete, member of the national team, died in combat near Bakhmut. RIP, Volodymyr. We keep losing our best people’.

His funeral took place last Wednesday 1, in the town of Letychiv in Khmelnytskyi Oblast. Volodymyr’s family and friends paid their last respects to the rising star of Ukrainian athletics. many of them reportedly voiced their sadness that he never had the opportunity to compete in the world’s most prestigious sporting event.

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