Days after learning her Kharkiv home was bombed, Ukrainian athlete Lyudmila Lyashchenko reinvented herself for a gold medal performance on Friday, the seventh day of the Winter Paralympics in Beijing.
Her breakthrough was one of six biathlon podium finishes that day for the Ukraine team, which is grappling with the trauma of Russia’s invasion of the Eastern European nation more than two weeks ago.
“I dedicate this medal to the Ukrainians, the army that defended us and my family,” said 28-year-old Lyashenko.
It was a hat-trick of gold for Ukraine on Friday – with Oleksandr Kazik and Oksana Shishkova also emerging victorious in their blinding events.
Shashkova has won five medals at the Games – three gold and two silver in the biathlon and cross-country skiing events.
“We want to protect the honor of our country,” she said.
“Maybe that’s what’s driving us to focus and do our best during the race. Maybe that’s the secret.”
The United Nations estimates that 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine – most to neighboring Poland.
By Friday afternoon, the Ukraine team had equaled their previous best Winter Paralympic performance, despite grappling with extreme uncertainty and fears for the safety and well-being of loved ones upon their return home.
They are second only to China in the overall medal tally, with a record 25 medals including nine golds.
The 2006 Games in Turin was the country’s most successful Winter Paralympic outing to date, with 25 medals and seven gold medals.
Team veteran Vitaly Lukianenko, unable to win his third gold for the week, finished second only to 25-year-old Kazik in the men’s visually impaired biathlon on Friday.
“At my age, at 44, bronze is also a gold medal,” he joked.
For Kazic, success was a confidence booster and he said it was humbling to beat his legendary teammate.
“Vitaly is a great athlete and in every Paralympic Games he is one of the leaders,” he said.
In Yanqing, there were three Austrian sisters on the podium in the women’s visually impaired giant slalom alpine skiing event.
Veronica Agner, 19, achieved the Paralympic title under the guidance of her sister Elizabeth, 23.
While 16-year-old younger sister Barbara won the bronze medal.
“We are very happy that my sisters and I are on the podium. This is crazy,” Veronica said.
His 16-year-old brother Johannes has also won four medals, including two gold, at the Games. All three siblings have the same congenital cataract condition as their mother.
In para-snowboarding, China’s Wu Zhongwei, 26, overtook the competition in the LL1 banked slalom category and 22-year-old Sun Qi won the LL2 race – with the host country winning two silver and two bronze medals in the women’s event. . Men’s category for weakness of the upper limbs.
American Brenna Huckabee won the women’s para-snowboarding banked slalom while France’s Maxime Montagioni won the men’s UL race.
Meanwhile, Slovakia is set to secure a bronze medal in wheelchair curling later Friday night when they play Canada.
Defending champions China will face Sweden in a gold medal match on Saturday.
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