Ukrainian Figure Skaters Fail to Win a Single Olympic License at the 2025 World Championship: Are There Still Chances

The 2025 World Figure Skating Championship results in the context of 2026 Olympic licenses.

Ukrainian figure skaters didn't win a single license for the 2026 Milan Olympics at the World Figure Skating Championship, held March 26-30 in Boston.

The competition in the US awarded 83 of the 100 available Winter Olympics licenses at once. Ukraine was represented across all four disciplines — singles skating (Anastasiia Hozhva, Kyrylo Marsak), ice dance (Zoe Larson and Andrii Kapran), and pairs skating (Sofiia Holichenko and Artem Darenskyi).

The DeTalks team reviewed the world championship for Ukrainian figure skaters to gauge their chances of qualifying for the 2026 Olympics.

Sofiia Holichenko and Artem Darenskyi: 17th Again

In pairs skating, Sofiia Holichenko and Artem Darenskyi posted the best result among all Ukrainian athletes at the 2025 World Championship. The duo, competing at this level for the third time in their careers, matched last year's result, finishing 17th.

As a result, the Ukrainian pair missed out on the Netherlands, who qualified for the Games from 15th place, by just 2.26 points. According to the athletes, in a comment for Suspilne Sport, they were hoping to qualify for the 2026 Olympics specifically at this world championship, since Darenskyi was set to undergo leg surgery afterward.

Despite this, Artem and Sofiia will still have a chance to make the Olympics if they finish in the top 3 at the qualifying tournament in China. That competition takes place in September 2025.

Kyrylo Marsak: Competing for the Team's Top Spot

To compete at the world championship, 20-year-old Kyrylo Marsak won out over teammate Ivan Shmuratko — making the roster for the first time in two years, having posted his best personal-best result of the season.

At his second World Championship, though, Marsak didn't make it to the free skate — finishing 33rd out of 64 with 37 points, below both his own best result of the season and Shmuratko's short program score at the 2025 European Championship (71.53 points).

Ukraine will still have a chance to compete for an Olympic license in men's singles skating as well. That opportunity also comes in September, when athletes will compete for five spots for the 2026 Games in China. But the question of who exactly will represent the national team at that tournament — Marsak or Shmuratko — remains open.

Anastasiia Hozhva: An 'Uncontrollable Skate'

Like Marsak, Anastasiia Hozhva competed at the World Figure Skating Championship for the second time in her career — a year earlier, she finished 34th. This same season, the skater finished 27th at the European Championship and 19th at the Universiade, and needed to finish in the top 24 at the World Championship to qualify for the Olympics.

But the Ukrainian didn't make it to the free skate either — posting a score of 37.54 points, falling twice during her program and making errors on every jump element. Hozhva explained this performance by citing problems with her skate boot, which felt 'uncontrollable' on the ice, as well as a leg injury.

Even so, Anastasiia will also get a chance to compete for one of the five remaining spots for the 2026 Olympics, in Beijing this September.

Hozhva has described this as truly her dream, one she's worked very hard for, saying she hopes she'll still get the chance, said the athlete in a comment for Suspilne Sport.

Zoe Larson and Andrii Kapran: Debut at a Figure Skating Major

In ice dance at the 2025 World Championship, Ukraine was represented by American Zoe Larson, paired with Andrii Kapran. For the duo, the event in Boston marked their first major competition — before this, the pair's most prestigious events had been Challenger Series competitions.

To win an Olympic license, the American-Ukrainian pair needed to finish in the tournament's top 19, meaning they needed to reach the free dance (top 20). Instead, the athletes finished 29th after the rhythm dance, trailing the US leaders by 32.43 points, and didn't advance further.

As a result, the Kapran/Larson duo posted the worst result among Ukrainian ice dance pairs at a World Championship (setting a new low of 26th place) and didn't qualify directly for the 2026 Olympics. Four more spots for the Milan Games in ice dance will be decided at the qualifying tournament in Beijing.

The Beijing Qualifying Tournament for the 2026 Olympics: What's Known

• The September competition in Beijing will decide 17 spots in total — ten in singles skating, three in pairs skating, and four in ice dance.

• During the 2026 Olympic qualifying cycle, athletes compete for unnamed spots. So the decision on who will actually represent Team Ukraine in Milan, should the country qualify, will rest with the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation.

• Athletes from Russia have been allowed to compete at the qualifying tournament in China as 'neutrals.' So besides the 2025 World Championship's participants, figure skaters from the aggressor country will also be competing for licenses.

• To compete in the team event at the 2026 Milan Games, Ukraine needs to win licenses in three of the four disciplines. Ukrainian figure skaters have managed this at every Olympics in history so far.