Ukraine's Okipniuk wins 2025-2026 Freestyle World Cup for freestyle skiing

Ukrainian athlete Oleksandr Okipniuk has won the opening stage of the World Cup in Ruka, Finland.

Source: Champion, a sports news platform within Ukrainska Pravda's holding company

Details: Two Ukrainians made it into the top 12 – Oleksandr Okipniuk and Dmytro Kotovskyi. Okipniuk reached the super final, finishing sixth with a score of 115.84 points.

In the decisive round, the Ukrainian performed a jump with a difficulty coefficient of 5.1, earning 130.56 points, which ultimately secured him the victory. He finished 20 points ahead of his closest rival.

Notably, Okipniuk has become the third Ukrainian to win a World Cup stage in freestyle aerials. Before him, victories were claimed by Dmytro Kotovskyi and Olympic champion Oleksandr Abramenko.

Background: The previous day, Andrii Mandzii and Anton Dukach competed in the opening stage of the Luge World Cup.

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