On the front line

Former European champion killed in the Ukraine war

Oleksandr Pylyeschenko(Bild: AFP or licensors)

The sports world is in mourning! Oleksandr Pyelyeschenko, two-time former European weightlifting champion, has been killed in the war in Ukraine. 

According to the Ukrainian Weightlifting Federation on Monday, the 30-year-old died on the front line. Pjeljeschenko represented his home country at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, where he finished fourth in the up to 85 kg category.

He won European Championship gold in 2016 and 2017 and was banned a year later for a doping offense. Pyeliyshenko joined the army soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.