“The vast majority of messages were about how Petr Gumennik is a great athlete, and that I shouldn’t be at the Olympics at all.” Ukrainian Kyrylo Marsak described receiving a wave of negative messages from Russians
Kyrylo Marsak, the only Ukrainian figure skater at the 2026 Olympic Games, received a huge number of negative messages and comments on his social media from Russians, resembling a bot attack.
original source: rbc.ua / champion.com.ua
Ukrainian figure skater Kyrylo Marsak described receiving a wave of negative messages from Russians after his comments about not wanting to compete against neutral athletes from Russia, but said the criticism only motivated him to perform better for Ukraine. Here’s a translation of his comments.
“The vast majority of messages were about how Petr Gumennik (a Russian figure skater competing under a neutral flag) is a great athlete, and that I shouldn’t be at the Olympics at all. But all these negative comments only gave me more emotional strength to perform at my best.
These comments followed my interviews, in which I said that we do not want to see or compete against neutral athletes representing Russia. They should not be on the international stage while the war in Ukraine continues.
My statements were widely circulated in the media of the aggressor country, and after that, yesterday, I started receiving a flood of offensive messages. I decided I would respond to them with my performances on the ice,” Marsak told Champion.
Kyrylo’s father, Andriy Marsak, is currently defending Ukraine on the front lines. But he managed to find a way to watch his son’s performance. After the skate, father and son spoke by phone.
“Dad said he’s proud and very happy with my performance,” Kyrylo admitted.
Kyrylo’s coach, Finnish Alina Mayer-Virtanen, was also completely satisfied with his skate.
“Alina said that at this stage, I showed my maximum,” Marsak said. Despite his high result in the short program, Marsak remains calm and realistic about his chances. His main goal now is to secure a spot in the world’s top ten.
“I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing. I won’t change my content or try to do more than I’m capable of. We’ll do everything we can and aim for positive grades from the judges. Then everything will be fine,” Kyrylo explained his strategy. It would be great to make the top ten; at the very least, that would mean maintaining my level and improving a bit. For now, we’re doing our best, and we’re doing it for Ukraine,” the athlete said.
Related topics: Kyrylo Marsak, Olympic Games
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