08.03 Ukraine’s Lukyanenko Defies Russian Domination to Win Paralympic Gold

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia, March 8 (R-Sport) – Ukraine’s Vitaliy Lukyanenko resisted a strong Russian challenge to win the men’s 7.5km visually impaired biathlon Saturday and deny the host nation a fifth gold of the Sochi Paralympics.

Lukyanenko won at the Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex by 11 seconds from Russia’s Nikolai Polukhin to become the first Ukrainian gold medalist at the Sochi Paralympics.

His win comes a day after the Ukrainian team ruled out boycotting the Sochi Paralympics, which come at a time of high tension between their country and Russia over the fate of the Crimean peninsula.

The bronze medal went to Vasily Shaptsiaboi of Belarus as athletes from post-Soviet nations filled the top six places.

Visually impaired biathlon involves blind or partially sighted athletes competing with the help of sighted guides. In the shooting portion of the event, athletes use modified rifles that provide aural cues to help them hit the targets.

Earlier in the day, Mikhalina Lysova, Roman Petrushko, Alexandra Kaufman and Valery Lekomtsev all won biathlon gold medals for Russia.

The only other athlete to win any of the six biathlon events on the first day of competition was German veteran Andrea Eskau in the women's 6km sitting, the first competition of the day at Laura.

The Paralympic biathlon events use so-called “calculated time,” in which each athlete’s time is modified by a percentage reflecting the extent of their disability.

Over the nine days of competition in Sochi, a total of 72 gold medals will be awarded across five sports.