Ukrainian athletes showed support for their compatriots at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, after securing a clean sweep of medals in two more para biathlon events at the games on Tuesday.
Iryna Bui led the first Ukrainian podium sweep of the day in the women’s middle distance standing, with Oleksandra Kononova and Liudmyla Liashenko earning silver and bronze, respectively.
“I was preparing for this special moment for 12 years. It was my aim and I’ve been training really hard all of this time,” Bui said of winning her first Paralympic medal at her third Games.
“But I came here with another thought. The whole world knows what’s going on in Ukraine at the moment and now I know that I have a mission here I represent the whole country. The whole country is behind me and with this medal I will just one more time promote the Ukrainian nation.”
“We would like to dedicate our results and medals to each and every Ukrainian and all the soldiers in the Ukrainian army who protect us. With our performance we represent the whole country and this is our battle, here,” she added.
And yet another Ukraine podium sweep was to follow just a few hours later in the men’s middle distance vision impaired.
Vitaliy Lukyanenko won comfortably and in the process secured the eighth Paralympic gold medal of his career, with Anatoliy Kovalevskyi and Dmytro Suiarko crossing the line to win silver and bronze, respectively.
At 43-years-old, Lukyanenko becomes the most successful male biathlete of all-time.
“First of all, I would like to congratulate our beloved women on International Women’s Day. I want to wish them a peaceful sky over their heads, and to be happy in life and not to cry like they do now in Ukraine,” he said.
“We are fighting here, not only in Ukraine but here on the sporting stage.”
Iaroslav Reshetynskyi and Oleksandr Kazik followed Lukyanenko, Kovalevskyi and Suiarko as Ukrainian athletes secured the top five positions in the race.
It was Ukraine’s third para biathlon podium sweep at the Beijing Paralympics after Lukyanenko, Kazik and Suiarko secured the top three spots in the men’s vision impaired sprint on Saturday. Ukraine so far has 6 gold medals at the Games, two behind China.
