Israeli skater Bychenko comes in 5th at Euros

Israeli figure skater Alexei Bychenko may not have managed to return to the podium at the European Championships, but his performance in the free program in Moscow on Friday will have given him plenty of confidence ahead of next month’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Bychenko, who won a silver medal at the Europeans last year, was only eighth after Wednesday’s short program, but bounced back with a score of 163.47 points in the free for an overall result of 238.44, finishing in fifth place overall.

Bychenko is dreaming of a top-10 finish in Pyeongchang after registering the best-ever result for an Israeli man at the figure skating world championships in Helsinki last year, ending the event in 10th place, which earned Israel a second berth in the men’s competition at the Olympics.

Daniel Samohin, who owes his place in Pyeongchang to Bychenko, did not advance to Friday’s free skate after ranking 26th in the short program.

Israel’s Evgeni Krasnopolski and Paige Conners ended the pairs competition in ninth place. Adel Tanakova and Ronald Zilberberg finished 28th out of 30 teams in the ice dancing event, while Aimee Buchanan was 38th out of 39 in the women's contest.