[11][12] Lokhanov won a bronze medal at the January 2016 Phoenix Fencing World Cup in Arizona, in the United States.

[3][13] Lokhanov also won a gold medal in team sabre at the 2016 World Junior Fencing Championships.

[8] At the 2019 World Fencing Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Lokhanov was defeated in the quarter-finals by gold medal winner Oh Sang-uk of South Korea.

Used to winning gold medals, Lokhanov was devastated that he had not performed better at the Olympics, and upon arriving home he "lay in bed for a month, ordering food delivery.

[7]Lokhanov went into surgery in Germany for a hip injury the day before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and woke up to the news of the attack.

"[8] Lokhanov had the word “Liberty” tattooed on his right forearm, shortly after he emigrated to the United States.

[6][24][20][25] On the Fourth of July weekend, Lokhanov won the gold medal in the individual men's saber competition at the United States Summer National Championships, in which 155 competitors competed.

[17] In July 2023, Ukrainian four-time world individual sabre champion Olga Kharlan was initially disqualified at the World Fencing Championships by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime for not shaking the hand of her defeated Russian opponent—though Kharlan instead offered a tapping of blades in acknowledgement of her opponent.

[27] Lokhanov said in a New York Times interview that he thought the Russian fencer might have set a trap for Kharlan, to seek the Ukrainian's disqualification.

[29] On the other hand, he noted, the tapping of weapon blades—in lieu of a handshake—was the accepted acknowledgment of an opponent during the pandemic, and was still considered suitable by many fencers.

She could have just touched blades; the bout was over.”[29] After a public uproar and the intervention of the IOC, the black card was reversed the next day.

[30][31] Author Charlie Pierce wrote: "Both Olga Kharlan and Konstantin Lokhanov were warmly applauded for their stands in defense of Ukraine, and there certainly will be more of this as the 2024 Olympics approach.

[33][34][6] American writer Charlie Pierce described him as "living his own personal Chekhov short story for over a year.

"[32] The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and USA Fencing both wrote letters in support of Lokhanov and two other defecting Russian Olympic fencers, Sergey Bida and his wife Violetta Bida, being granted U.S.

[17] USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland wrote as to the fencers, in a January 4, 2024, letter: "Our intention in endorsing their cause is to enable them to proudly represent our remarkable nation in the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games and other forthcoming international competitions.

"[17] Phil Andrews, the CEO of USA Fencing, wrote in a January 5, 2024, letter to the U.S. Congress: "All 3 of these individuals have made sacrifices at great personal cost, and put their lives at risk to be able to represent our nation, and we ask you to make every effort to support them in the extraordinary circumstance.

"[17] Shortly after the support of the USOPC and USA Fencing for the defecting fencers to obtain U.S. citizenship was made public, Sergey Malinkovich, the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communists of Russia party, crudely threatened the fencers by sending them a portrait of Leon Trotsky.

"[37] Russian State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov called the fencers "cowards, traitors, and defectors" and "political rags.

"[38] Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov said: "they were promised to be treated with some sweet cookies.

"[39][14] Soviet-Russian former four-time Olympic champion biathlete Alexander Tikhonov called the Bidas traitors to Russia.

[32] Yelena Välbe, the head of the Russian Cross-Country Skiing Federation, said about the three fencers: "It's shameful to run ... We have to be patriots.

[36] Pravda shed light on the Russian officials' reaction, writing: "It is difficult to overestimate the propaganda value of sports, but "defectors" influence public opinion no less.

[8] Unless extraordinary United States government intervention is undertaken, The New York Times reported, it is unlikely that he will gain American citizenship before the 2024 Paris Olympics.

"[20] Speaking about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Lokhanov said: Before the start of the war, political issues were not so pressing for me.

[33] Lokhanov emigrated to the United States in 2022, after the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, strongly opposed to Russia's war.

[47][7] As The New York Times later put it, "Lokhanov ... had married into the first family of Russian fencing and seemed embedded in a life of athletic royalty.

"[20] His father-in-law had also been European Fencing Confederation (EFC) President, but in June 2022 he was removed from that position at an Extraordinary Congress following a unanimous vote of no confidence in him due to his conduct in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[47] After Lokhanov moved to the United States, his father-in-law—in what The New York Times called an apparent swipe at Western frivolousness—referred to him obliquely as having "the sad fate of frightened lovers of raspberry frappé and yellow scooters.