“Golden” Paralympians

Our athletes keep winning medals at the 2014 Paralympics, held in Sochi from March 7-16. Thus, the fourth day of the competition, involving fight for medals in biathlon and ski slope, saw Ukrainians ascending podium three more times: Vitalii Lukianenko won Ukraine’s third gold (and his second) in the 12.5 km biathlon race among visually impaired athletes, Liudmyla Pavlenko won bronze in the 10 km sitting biathlon race, and Oleksandr Kononov won silver in the 10 km standing biathlon race. By the way, this latter race saw four Ukrainians finishing among seven best athletes. Let us recall that Lukianenko won Ukraine’s first gold of the games on March 8 in the 7.5 km biathlon race, while Kharkiv-based Pavlenko won the 12 km women’s sitting ski race the next day and dedicated her gold to the 200th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko.

Thus, the Ukrainian team has won 11 medals so far, including 3 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze ones, at the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi. Ukraine occupies the third place in overall team standings, trailing only Germany and Russia.

BREAKING NEWS: March 12, in the course of the Paralympic Games in Sochi, Ukrainian “sitting” athlete Maksym Yarovy won bronze in ski race. His compatriot  Oksana Shyshkova followed suit in the one-kilometer sprint for athletes with visual impairment.