Fleeing his hometown following Russia's invasion, this Ukrainian swimmer never thought he'd become a world champion

CNN

7 days ago

War in Ukraine
RussiaFacebookTweetLink
Follow
Ukrainian swimmer Vladyslav Bukhov knows better than anyone just how fine the margins in his sport can be.
At just 21 years of age, the sprint swimmer claimed gold in the 50m freestyle at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha by a mere 0.01 seconds – literally less than the blink of an eye.
That title etched Bukhov into Ukraine's sporting history, making him the country's third-ever long-course (competitions held in a 50m pool) world champion.
At the time, Bukhov was a relatively unknown figure in elite swimming, with only a few thousand social media followers.
However, he left Qatar having completed one of the world championships' greatest-ever shocks, edging out the previous two champions, Cameron McEvoy and Ben Proud, in the final.
Ostensibly emerging out of the blue, Bukhov's journey – like most gold medalists – started long before the pageantry of international swim meets and media spotlight.
Speaking to CNN Sports ahead of the swimming portion of the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, the 22-year-old offered a frank insight into his ascent to the top of the sport.
'People will look and see that I'm world champion. But what they don't see is how long the road and the journey is to that medal and podium,' Bukhov said.
'I have been swimming since the age of seven. That means I was swimming for 14 years – well over half my life – before I won gold in Doha.
'There have been a lot of sacrifices along the way to get me to where I am today.'
Bukhov's unlikely success becomes more impressive once learning that despite starting the sport at age seven, he didn't swim in a competitive race until he was 15 years old in 2018.
When asked why it took him so long to transition into competitive swimming, Bukhov explained that his introduction to the sport was never based around 'dreams of medals or fame.'
'I tried all the sports growing up. Swimming didn't become my main focus until I was a teenager,' he recalled.
'At first, I got into it because I loved the modern pentathlon. So, in the beginning, I saw it as just a small part of my sporting life.
'But as I got older, it became clear that I had a talent for swimming. That's when my parents stepped in and said they would take me to a proper coach.'
Like all Ukrainians, Bukhov's life has been deeply affected by Russia's aggression toward his homeland.
Back in 2014, before the current full-scale war in Ukraine, Russian paramilitaries seized control of Bukhov's hometown of Donetsk in the country's eastern Donbas region.
Only 11 years old at the time, Bukhov and his family were forced to leave their home and travel 10 hours west to the relative safety of Kyiv.
'It was a very scary time for us all,' the swimmer said. 'I was quite young at the time, so I didn't fully understand what was going on.
'My main memory is just the sadness of needing to leave where I was from and move to somewhere completely new.'
After nearly eight years in the nation's capital, the pain of fleeing Donetsk had started to feel like a distant memory for Bukhov.
Those memories came flooding back for him and his family, though, in late February 2022, when Russian forces crossed Ukraine's eastern border and encircled Kyiv just a few days later.
'I thought we had left all the fighting behind us. When I woke up that morning and heard the news that Kyiv had been surrounded, I struggled to believe my family and I had found ourselves in the same situation all over again.'
More than three years later, life for most Ukrainians has yet to return to normal.
For elite athletes like Bukhov – who rely on routine and stability – training and preparation have had to be heavily adapted.
'It is impossible to train normally. We can't even do simple everyday things, let alone all the stuff that professional athletes have to do,' Bukhov said.
'Air raid sirens constantly interrupt our lives – whether we're in the pool, in the gym, or just trying to sleep at night. We can't do anything without this constant fear.'
In recent months, Bukhov says the drone and missile attacks on Kyiv seem to be increasing in frequency.
'Russia has been bombing us nearly every night. Just the other week, a missile struck a nearby area in Kyiv and over 30 people died.
'It does scare you, of course, because each night when you go to bed, you don't know if you'll live or die – if you'll wake up the next morning. Each day has become a lottery.'
He adds that there have been many occasions where he and his teammates were mid-session in the pool when the screech of air raid sirens forced them to rush to shelters still wrapped in towels.
'You never know how much time you'll have in the pool before you need to get out, so it's just a case of doing as much as you can while you can,' Bukhov said.
There is always pride in representing your nation on the international stage, but for Ukrainian athletes like Bukhov, that pride has grown even deeper as the war rumbles on.
'As an athlete, I feel even prouder now. I am competing for more than just my own glory,' the 22-year-old said.
Even before the war, when competing at youth level, Bukhov says he always gave everything to see the Ukrainian flag hoisted above the podium.
Now, though, he feels he has found another level of passion and purpose in competing for his country.
'When I travel abroad to competitions, I'm one of the lucky few who gets to temporarily leave the war. … Normal people don't get a break from the bombing and the sirens, so I try to do my part in my own way.
'I tell myself that if I swim fast and continue to break records, people back home will get a small distraction from reality and feel pride that Ukraine is still succeeding despite everything.
'During war, there's no option but to keep going and try to live as normally as we can. For some, that means going to university or an office. For me, that's swimming faster.
'If everyone does their job in Ukraine – no matter how small – it can make a big difference collectively. That's what I keep telling myself.'
Heading into the swimming portion of the World Aquatics Championships, Bukhov is aiming to return to his best form – something that eluded him at last summer's Olympic Games in Paris.
Having been crowned world champion just a few months before the Games, the Ukrainian struggled to follow up on that breakthrough performance, placing 11th overall in the 50-meter freestyle.
On the wrong side of swimming's razor-thin margins, Bukhov missed out on the Olympic final by just 0.13 seconds.
It was not a new pain for the swimmer either, having placed in the exact same position – one spot outside the finals – in the 2021 Tokyo Games.
But he has used these disappointments to fuel his motivation to defend his world title.
'At the Olympics, I was very disappointed. I was a little bit sick and wasn't able to perform my best or live up to my own standards,' he told CNN Sports. 'I'm heading to Kallang with one goal: to swim faster than I ever have before.
'Let's see where that leaves me on the podium. But in my mind, when I'm up on the starting block, my only thought will be about chasing a new PB and breaking my national record.'
The journey itself to Singapore is another reminder of the often-overlooked consequences of war.
With Ukraine's airspace closed, Bukhov will take a nine-hour train west to the Polish border before crossing into the town of Chełm.
From there, he'll take a further three-hour train ride to Warsaw, where he and his teammates will finally board a flight to Singapore.
In total, they will spend more time traveling to the airport from Kyiv than they will in the air en route to Southeast Asia.
'It's not ideal, but we're used to it now,' Bukhov said. 'The journey will be long, so I have to make sure I make it worthwhile.'