September 24 – Talk of Chelsea and Ukraine winger Mykhailo Mudryk switching careers to compete as a sprinter at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics has been firmly denied by both his legal team and Ukraine’s athletics authorities.
The rumours surfaced last week after Spanish newspaper Marca claimed the 23-year-old was preparing to leave football behind while awaiting the outcome of an FA anti-doping investigation. The article, which has since been deleted, lit a tinderbox of speculation across European media outlets.
Mudryk, playfully nicknamed ‘Ukraine Bolt’, has hit back at those rumours.
On Monday, Mudryk’s representatives at Morgan Sports Law dismissed the reports as baseless. “Our client is not considering becoming an Olympic sprinter, as alleged. Such an allegation questions our client’s commitment to his football career and is extremely damaging to his professional reputation,” said a statement.
The Ukrainian Athletics Federation (UAF) issued its own rebuttal, stressing that no contact had been made by the player or his entourage. Given Mudryk’s controversy surrounding performance enhancing drugs, it is unlikely he would be welcomed into a sport where anti-doping is even stricter than football.
“As long as the investigation into Mykhailo Mudryk’s doping case is ongoing, this is not and cannot even be a subject of discussion,” said federation spokesperson Olha Nikolaiyenko.
UAF president Olga Saladukha added that Mudryk had not trained with the national track and field team nor held any talks about a potential switch.
Mudryk has been unable to play since November 2024, officially suspended the following month after testing positive for an unnamed banned substance. He was charged in June 2025 and faces the prospect of a four-year ban under FIFA guidelines.
Chelsea, who paid €70 million to sign him from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023, handed his No.10 shirt to Cole Palmer ahead of the current season.
For now, the winger’s future rests not on any Olympic ambitions but on the outcome of the FA’s disciplinary process.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at [email protected]