21-year-old Ukrainian freestyle skier Angelina Brykina, after performing in the ski acrobatics qualification at the 2026 Olympics, showed an inscription on her skis in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The athlete took 13th place and was one step away from reaching the final.

In the first qualification, Brykina received 79. 84 points for the super difficult back-full-full: backflip with three twists with a difficulty factor of 4. 293. Despite the fall during landing, this result allowed her to become the best among Ukrainians. On her second attempt she scored 75. 50 points and remained the first non-passable, losing to qualification zone 0. 18 points.

After the end of the performance, the inscription on her skis was broadcast: “Glory to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”.

The broadcast commentator noted that the accuracy of entering the springboard significantly affects the speed of approach. According to him, the athlete performed a very difficult jump, which looked powerful in the air, but the rotation was reworked.

He added that Brykina had not previously used this element in competitions of the season and could lean back a little when taking off, which is why she received excess rotation. The coach, as heard on air, urged her to “stretch out” to slow down the rotation, but this was not enough, and a fall occurred. At the same time, according to the commentator, the athlete did not receive serious damage.

In the qualification of women's ski acrobatics, Ukraine was represented by four debutantes of the Games. Diana Yablonska was 18th with a score of 69. 89, Nelly Popovich took 19th place with 64. 22, Oksana Yatsyuk finished 20th with 62. 68.

Brykina made her debut at the adult world championship in 2023, where she took 15th place. In the 2024 season, she won two victories and won silver at the European Cup stages, which allowed her to win the overall standings.

In April 2024, the athlete received bronze in the individual competition at the Junior World Championships, as well as bronze in the team tournament together with Maxim Kuznetsov and Zakhar Maksimchuk.

On March 27, 2025, Brykina, together with Dmitry Kotovsky and Alexander Okipnyuk, won silver at the World Championships in team competitions.

The athlete’s father, Pavel Brykin, fought in the East of Ukraine since 2015 as part of the 58th separate motorized infantry brigade and was a grenade launcher.

He died on August 6, 2022 from wounds received in battle near the village of Blagodatnoye, Nikolaev region. He is survived by his wife and five children.

The next starts of Ukrainian ski acrobats will take place on February 19: Yan Gavryuk, Alexander Okipnyuk, Maxim Kuznetsov and Dmitry Kotovsky will perform in the men's qualification. Starts at 12:00 Kyiv time.