Israeli figure skater Alexei Bychenko comes in 21st place in Sochi finals

Bychenko, 26, makes it into the finals, takes a spill during routine.

By REUTERS
Alexei Bychenko (photo credit: REUTERS)
Alexei Bychenko
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel’s Alexei Bychenko took an unfortunate spill to 21st place in the men's figure skating finals. Bychenko was among the 24 skaters to take part in Friday’s  men’s figure skating event after clinching a spot in the semi-finals on Thursday.
Bychenko, 26, who is based in Hackensack, New Jersey, is one of the five athletes representing Israel at this year's winter olympics in Sochi.
His routine in the semifinals was performed to music from the Swing Kids soundtrack by James Horner and recorded a result of 62.44 points. Bychenko had an unfortunate crash on the ice during the short program qualifying rounds, but still recorded a score high enough to book his place in the second day of competition.
Short track speed skater Vladislav Bykanov failed to reach the quarterfinals of the 1,000-meter event on Thursday, finishing his heat in third place in a time of 1:27.796 minutes.
The 24-year-old, who moved to Israel from Ukraine in 1994, also missed out on a place in the 1,500m semifinals by 76 hundredths of a second on Monday.
Bykanov, who carried the Israel flag in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics last Friday, will have one more opportunity to make his mark in Sochi when he participates in the 500m competition on Tuesday.
The fifth and final Israeli to compete in the Olympics will be skier Virgile Vandeput. He will take part in the giant slalom on Wednesday before also racing in the slalom next Saturday, the day before the closing ceremony.
The first Israelis to return from Sochi will be Evgeni Krasnopolski and Andrea Davidovich, who were delighted at finishing the pairs figure skating competition in 15th place on Wednesday.
“We could have finished slightly higher, but considering these were our first Olympics, we are very pleased,” said Krasnopolski.


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