Polynskiy qualified for the Russian squad, in two track cycling events at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing by receiving a berth from the UCI Track World Rankings. In the men's team sprint, held on the first day of the track program, Polynskiy and his teammates Denis Dmitriev and Sergey Kucherov battled in an opening heat against the Aussies (led by five-time Olympic veteran Shane Kelly) with a twelfth-place time in 45.964 and an average speed of 59.647 km/h, failing to advance further to the top eight match round. The following day, in the men's keirin, Polynskiy could not ignite a late surge on the final stretch to defeat against three other cyclists Kiyofumi Nagai of Japan, Andrii Vynokurov of Ukraine, and Ricardo Lynch of Jamaica for the semifinal spot in the repechage.