Ukraine team equals best ever Winter Paralympics performance

ZHANGJIAKOU: Days after learning her Kharkiv home was bombed, Ukrainian athlete Liudmyla Liashenko steeled herself on Friday (Mar 11) for a gold medal performance on day seven of Beijing's Winter Paralympics.

Her success was one of six biathlon podium finishes on the day for the Ukraine team, which is reeling from the trauma of Russia's invasion of the Eastern European nation more than two weeks ago.

"I dedicate this medal to the Ukrainians, to the army who protect us and to my family," Liashenko, 28, said.

It was a hat trick of gold on Friday for Ukraine, with Oleksandr Kazik and Oksana Shyshkova's also victorious in their visually impaired events.

Shyshkova has bagged five medals at the games - three gold and two silvers across biathlon and cross country skiing events.

"We (want to) protect the honour of our country," she said.

"That is maybe what is motivating us to focus and do all the best that we can during the race. Maybe that is the secret."

The United Nations estimates that 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine, the majority to neighbouring Poland.

Despite grappling with immense uncertainty and fears for the safety and welfare of loved ones back home, as of Friday afternoon the Ukraine team had equalled their previous best-ever Winter Paralympic performance.

They are second on the overall medal tally, behind China, with a 25 medal haul including a record nine gold.

The country's 25 medals and seven gold haul in Turin at the 2006 games had been its most successful Winter Paralympic outing until now.

Team veteran Vitalii Lukianenko, was unable to win his third gold for the week, placing second to Kazik, 25, in the men's visually impaired biathlon on Friday.

"At my age, 44 years old, even bronze is a gold medal," he joked.

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