Figure skater Bychenko advances to second day

Israel's Alexei Bychenko ended the men's figure skating event at the Sochi Olympics in 21st place on Friday. Bychenko, 26, entered Friday's free program in 22nd position after recording a result of 62.44 points in Thursday's short program. He moved up one place after registering a score of 114.62 points on Friday, crashing to the ice once during his performance to the music of Nostradamus by Maksim Mrvica. Bychenko, who is based in Hackensack, New Jersey, ended the event with a total score of 177.06, well short of the personal best of 203.76 he set when he finished in 10th position at the European Championships last month. The next Israeli to compete in Sochi will be short track speed skater Vladislav Bykanov. Bykanov will take part in the 500-meter heats on Tuesday after failing to reach the quarterfinals of the 1,000m 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 last Monday. Skier Virgile Vandeput will be the final Israeli to open his account in Sochi when he takes part in the giant slalom on Wednesday before also racing in the slalom next Saturday, the day before the closing ceremony.

Figure skater Bychenko advances to second day

Bychenko, 26, performed to music from the Swing Kids soundtrack by James Horner and recorded a result of 62.44 points.

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Figure skater Bychenko advances to second day

Bychenko, 26, performed to music from the Swing Kids soundtrack by James Horner and recorded a result of 62.44 points.

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