LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Love was in the air — make that the big air — for freeskier Kateryna Kotsar of Ukraine on Valentine’s Day.
On a cold, perfect evening in the Italian Alps, Kotsar got the sweetest gift of all after she qualified for the Olympic big air final Friday night. Her boyfriend, Bohdan Fashtryha, dropped to one knee and popped the question.
Kotsar said yes.
Isn’t that romantic?
“I think he was nervous enough. It was so cute to be honest,” Kotsar said, showing off her glittering diamond ring while still in her crash helmet and snow-splattered ski suit.
“I’m still excited and can’t understand what happened tonight because it’s two really huge things for me,” she said after qualifying for Monday’s big air final, where the 25-year-old will compete against defending champion Eileen Gu and 10 others for a spot on the podium.
Kotsar, a Kyiv native, is well aware her Olympic engagement offers a welcome distraction from the realities in her war-torn country.
“You live without electricity, without heating, without opportunity to wash your clothes and do some pretty simple things” in Kyiv, she said.
Kotsar also spoke of the tinge of guilt she experiences when she is abroad, training in Austria or Switzerland for long spells.
“I have time to relax in a warm shower and something like that,” she said, contrasting that experience with what her family is going through. “And they don’t have this opportunity so much like me. So it’s really hard for them.”
Kotsar, who ranks fifth in the big air standings this season, said that she had a premonition something important was going to happen when she woke up Saturday. But even though it was Feb. 14, having her boyfriend of two-and-a-half years ask for her hand was not what she was thinking.
“(Sometimes) I have some feelings that something great will happen and today I had that feeling, but I (thought) it’s about finals,” she said with a laugh.
As if Saturday night wasn’t special enough, Kotsar’s parents were with her in Livigno to watch her jump in person for the very first time.
“Usually my mom said it’s too nervous for her, and she just waits for my call after competition when I said everything OK, I didn’t crash,” Kotsar said.
On this memorable night, everything was more than OK.
Now that she has a diamond, could there be some gold, silver or bronze to go with it?
“I have a few tricks to try here, and we’ll see,” she said.
___
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
See all of TMJ4's coverage of the Winter Olympics here.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.