Biathlete of the Ukrainian national team Taras Lesyuk apologized for the unsuccessful finish in the men's relay at the 2026 Olympics. The Ukrainian team finished the race in 16th place, having lost positions in the final stage after mistakes at the shooting ranges.

The “Yellow-Blues” were approaching the final stage in the top 6 zone thanks to the result of Vitaly Mandzyn, but they failed to maintain their position. Finisher Taras Lesyuk lost ten places: five after prone, where three additional rounds were required, and four in standing, sending him to two penalty loops. As a result, Ukraine lost another position to Lithuania.

Lesyuk in a commentary for “Suspilne”. Sport apologized to the team and fans for the result and admitted that it could not explain the mistakes at the shooting range.

He noted that the day before he felt good and the shooting was going well, but on the day of the race his condition was unusual and the performance turned out to be a failure.

“Right now I can’t explain the reason why this happened, but yesterday everything was fine. Unfortunately, I can’t explain why the shooting was so terrible today,” the athlete said.

This result was the worst for Ukraine in the men's relay in 28 years: at the 1998 Games the team was 18th. France won for the first time in history.