As the Winter Olympics in Beijing has come to an end, it’s time to look back at how Israel’s delegation of six athletes performed against the world’s best.
Whether it was on the snowy slopes or on the ice, the blue-and-white put the finishing touches on the Games which will hopefully be a stepping stone to the next Olympics slated for Italy in 2026.
There is no doubt that the hit of the Games for Israel was skier Barnabas Szollos, who exceeded all expectations on the slopes after competing in five different competitions.
With a sixth-place finish in the Men’s Combined, the Hungary-born Szollos placed 11th and second in his two runs to turn plenty of heads in the skiing world with a tremendous performance. The 23-year-old ended the Men’s Giant Slalom in 22nd place, the Slalom in 23rd, while he finished both the Downhill and Super-G in 30th place for an all-around terrific Olympic performance.
Szollos’s sister, Noa, competed in three competitions but only finished two of them. In the Women’s Super-G, the 19-year-old placed 34th, and in the Slalom she ended in 41st place. Noa did not finish the Giant Slalom, but hopes are high for her quality runs at such a young age.
Over in the Short Track Speed Skating, Vlaidslav Bykanov was competing in his third Olympics for Israel and had mixed results as he advanced to the 1,500-meter semifinal and finished 17th overall, while he made it to the 500 meters quarterfinals and ended in 12th place.
In the 1,000 meters, the 32-year-old didn’t make it past his first heat.
In Figure Skating, the duo of Evgeni Krasnopolski and Hailey Kops finished in 15th place overall in Pairs after coming in 15th place in both the Short Program and Free Skate.
The Israel Olympic Committee’s goal was for the Kyiv-born Krasnopolski and New Jersey native Kops to make the finals and that is exactly what they were able to do.
Finally, Alexei Bychenko took part in Men’s Singles Figure Skating with a disappointing 26th-place finish in the Short Program and did not advance to the finals of the competition.