He had to flee from home after the invasion of Russia. Then it happened what never waited

Vladyslav Bukhov became the third long-distance swimming world champion of Ukraine in 2024

The Ukrainian swimmer Vladyslav Bukhov knows better than anyone how tight can be the margins in his sport.

At the age of 21, the speed swimmer won gold in the 50 meters free in the 2024 World Aquatic Sports Championship in Doha for just 0.01 seconds – literally less than a blink of an eye.

The title marked Bukhov in the history of Ukrainian sport, making him the third world-range world champion (competitions held in a 50-meter pool) in the country.

At the time, Bukhov was a relatively unknown figure in elite swimming, with only a few thousand followers on social networks.

However, he left Qatar after he starred in one of the biggest twists in the world championships, surpassing in the final the previous two champions, Cameron Mcevoy and Ben Proud.

Apparently emerged out of nowhere, Bukhov’s route – like most gold medals – began long before the ostentation of international swimming competitions and media spotlights.

The long trip to the title of World Champion

Speaking to CNN Sports before the 2025 Water Sports World Championship Swimming Stage in Singapore, the 22 -year -old gave a frank view of his rise to the top of sport.

“People will look and see that I’m world champion. But what they don’t see is how long the way and the trip to the medal and podium,” said Bukhov.

“Swim from the age of seven. This means I have been swimming for 14 years – well over half of my life – before winning gold in Doha.

“There were a lot of sacrifices along the way to take me to where I am today.”

Bukhov’s unlikely success becomes more impressive when it is known that, despite having started to practice sport at the age of seven, it only swam in a competition race at age 15 in 2018.

When they asked him why it took so long to transition to competition swimming, Bukhov explained that his introduction to sport was never based on “dreams of medals or fame.”

“I tried all the sports as I grew. Swimming only became my main goal when I was already a teenager,” he recalls.

“At first, I went into sport because I loved the modern pentatlo. So at the beginning, I saw it only as a small part of my sports life.

“But as I grew up, it became clear that I was talent for swimming. It was then that my parents intervened and said they would lead me to a good coach.”

Escape the 2014 Russian invasion

Like all Ukrainians, Bukhov’s life was deeply affected by Russia’s aggression to his homeland.

In 2014, before the current large -scale war in Ukraine, Russian paramilitaries took control of the hometown of Bukhov, Donetsk, in the region of Donbas, in the east of the country.

Only 11 years old at the age of Bukhov and his family were forced to leave their home and travel 10 hours west for Kiev’s relative security.

“It was a very frightening time for all of us,” says the swimmer. “I was very young at the time, so I didn’t understand well what was going on.

“My main memory is the sadness of having to leave my homeland and go to a completely new place.”

After almost eight years in the capital of the country, Donetsk’s escape pain began to look like a distant memory for Bukhov.

However, these memories returned to him and his family in late February 2022, when the Russian forces crossed the eastern border of Ukraine and surrounded Kiev a few days later.

“I thought we had left all the fighting behind. When I woke up this morning and heard the news that Kiev had been surrounded, it was hard to believe that my family and I had found each other again in the same situation.”

Train in a war zone

More than three years later, the lives of most Ukrainians have not yet returned to normal.

For elite athletes like Bukhov – which depend on routine and stability – training and preparation had to be strongly adapted.

“It’s impossible to train normally. We can’t even do simple things of everyday life, let alone all the things that professional athletes have to do,” said Bukhov.

“The sirens of air strikes constantly interrupt our lives – whether we are in the pool, in the gym or just trying to sleep at night. We can do nothing without this constant fear.”

In recent months, Bukhov says drone and missile attacks on Kiev seem to be increasing frequency.

“Russia has been bombarded to us almost every night. Still the other week, a missile hit a zone near Kiev and died more than 30 people.

“Of course it scares us, because every night, when we lie down, we don’t know if we are going to live or die, if we will wake up the next morning. Each day it has become a lottery.”

He adds that there were many occasions when he and his teammates were in the middle of the pool session when the scream of the air strike sirens forced them to run to shelters still wrapped in towels.

“You never know how long you have in the pool before you need to leave, so it’s just a matter of doing as much as possible while you can,” explains Bukhov.

Represent the nation during the war

There is always proud to represent the nation on the international scene, but for Ukrainian athletes like Bukhov, this pride has become even deeper as war advances.

“As an athlete, I feel even more proud now. I’m competing for more than just my own glory,” said the 22-year-old.

Even before the war, when he was up to youth level, Bukhov says he always gave everything to see the Ukrainian flag raised on the podium.

Now, however, he feels that he has found another level of passion and objective by competing for his country.

“When I travel abroad to participate in competitions, I am one of the few lucky ones who can temporarily leave the war. … Normal people have no rest of bombing and sirens, so I try to do my part in my way.”

“I tell myself that, if you swim quickly and continue to break records, people in my country will have a little distraction from reality and will be proud that Ukraine remains successful despite everything.”

“During the war, there is no other option but to continue and try to live as normally as possible. For some, that means going to university or an office. For me, that’s swimming faster.”

“If each one does his job in Ukraine – as little as it may be – can make a big difference collectively. That’s what I’m always saying to myself.”

Aspirations to the World Championship

Upon entering the swimming part of the Aquatic Sports World Championship, Bukhov intends to return to his best – something that escaped him at the last summer Olympic Games in Paris.

Having been crowned world champion just a few months before the games, the Ukrainian had difficulty following this innovative performance, taking 11th place in the 50 -meter -free meters.

On the wrong side of swimming security margins, Bukhov was left out of the Olympic final for just 0.13 seconds.

Nor was it a new pain for the swimmer, having been exactly in the same position – a place outside the final – at the 2021 Tokyo Games.

But he used these disappointments to feed his motivation to defend his world title.

“At the Olympic Games, I was very disappointed. I was a little sick and couldn’t do my best or be up to my own standards,” he told CNN Sports. “I’m going to Kallang for one goal: to swim faster than I ever swam.

“Let’s see where it leaves me on the podium. But in my head, when I’m in the starting block, my only thought will be to pursue a new swimming record and hit my national record.”

The trip to Singapore is another reminder of the consequences of war, often forgotten.

With closed Ukrainian airspace, Bukhov will catch a nine -hour train to the west, to the Poland border before crossing the city of Chełm.

From then on, it will do three more hours of train to Warsaw, where he and his teammates will finally board a flight to Singapore.

In total, more time will travel from Kiev to the airport than in the air on the way to Southeast Asia.

“It’s not ideal, but we’re already used to it,” said Bukhov. “The trip will be long, so I have to make sure it’s worth it.”