Ukraine continues to serve as an example of an economically challenged, struggling nation that rises to shine on the world’s Paralympics stage. The limited financial resources the Ukrainian government dedicates to the training and development of disabled/wounded athletes produced a plethora of outstanding achievements in PyeongChang, South Korea, on March 9-18. Ukraine amassed a total of 22 medals, fourth most among the 49 competing countries.
When factoring in medal values, Ukraine’s seven gold medals, seven silvers and eight bronzes put it in sixth place overall. Team Ukraine’s total of seven gold medals placed it in an overall third-place tie. This result is slightly down from 2014, when Ukraine notched 25 medals, but up in gold medals from five.
Ukraine excelled in biathlon with 14 medals and cross-country skiing with eight. The women won eight medals, the men took home 13. Ukraine’s final medal victory, a gold in the 4×2.5-km mixed relay, had a four-person squad comprising three women, Liudmyla Liashenko, Yulia Batenkova-Bauman and Oksana Shyshkova, and Iurii Utkin. The favored Ukrainian team in the 4×2.5-km open relay received a penalty for a violation of start rules, disqualifying it from the podium.
Outstanding individual performers were Oksana Shyshkova (five individual medals plus relay), Liudmyla Liashenko (three medals plus relay), Ihor Reptyukh (three medals) and Vitaliy Lukyanenko, the only Ukrainian to win two gold medals. Gold medalist Taras Rad served as flag bearer for Team Ukraine at the closing ceremony.
Ukrainian medalists from the final two days of competition included Shyshkova (silver medal in women’s biathlon, 12.5-km, visually impaired), Lukyanenko (gold medal in biathlon, 15-km, visually impaired), Oleksandr Kazik (silver medal in biathlon 15-km, visually impaired), Grygorii Vovchynskyi (silver medal in cross-country 10-km, classic, standing) and Maksym Yarovyi (bronze medal in cross-country 7.5-km, sitting).
Paralympic profiles: two-sport medalists
Oksana Shyshkova was born June 10, 1991, in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Her guide is Lada Nesterenko. She won six medals at the IPC World Championships in Nordic skiing. The 26-year-old Ukrainian has competed in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Paralympics. In 2010 she won zero medals, in 2014 she won four bronze medals, three of them in biathlon (one in cross-country skiing). In 2018 she won five individual medals, a gold and two silvers in biathlon plus a silver and bronze in cross-country skiing, along with a gold in the mixed relay.
Shyshkova has always accepted the challenge of learning new skills. As a youngster she sang in a choir, attended a circus school, then moved on to sports, playing soccer and competing in athletics. It was the advice of one of her coaches that led her to Nordic skiing.
She has established herself as one of the circuit’s top skiers, winning medals at the 2011, 2013 and 2015 World Championships, despite not taking up the sport until age 17. It was no surprise she sat atop the 2017 World Cup rankings in women’s visually impaired cross-country skiing and biathlon.
Shyshkova’s three favorite things about skiing are speed, personal development and enjoyment. She explained in a brief chat with Tim Norris from paralympic.org: “The first thing I like about skiing is speed. It is exciting when you race faster than the wind, sometimes battling rain or snow to get to the finish line. Sport helps me to stay fit and develop my power, coordination and confidence. Last, but not least, I simply enjoy what I do. I do not think you can keep doing something if you do not like doing it.”
Liudmyla Liashenko was born May 17, 1993, in Zaporizhia. She has competed in the 2014 and 2018 Paralympic Games. She won Ukraine’s first medal in this year’s Games. She won three individual medals in 2018, two bronze in biathlon and a bronze in cross-country skiing, plus a gold medal in the mixed relay.
Liashenko won five silver medals at the 2015 World Championships and collected four podium finishes at last season’s World Cup held in Ukraine. She exudes confidence and acknowledged the importance of strong fan support in an interview with paralympic.org: “I may not use many words, but I believe in myself and will try to show good results. I always hope for a medal, I work hard for them and this is my goal. Support is a very important part of the competition for me. When everybody believes in you and is cheering you on, it gives you the power to move faster and win.”
Ihor Reptyukh was born June 18, 1994, in Chernihiv. He competed in the 2014 Paralympics, winning a silver medal in cross-country relay. In 2018 he won a silver and bronze in biathlon and a gold medal in cross-country skiing. In 2017 he received the title Master of Sport of International Class in Ukraine. At age 5 he severely lacerated his left hand in an automated food slicer, losing all of his fingers. Reptyukh got into para sports through athletics and swimming, but could not satisfy classification requirements in either. He switched to skiing and biathlon, and wanted to represent his country at the international level in these two sports.
Banking on his experience and analysis of past shortcomings, Reptyukh came to PyeongChang a physical and mental force on the slopes, hoping for his first individual medal. He swept the cross-country events at the 2017 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships, winning two golds in the sprint and long distance races, while adding a silver in middle distance. Although his biathlon results slipped in the last two years, he did win a gold medal in long distance at the 2015 Worlds and a silver in short distance at the 2017 Worlds.
The 2018 Paralympics gave Reptyukh a chance to overturn mistakes made in Sochi (2014) and gave him the opportunity to identify his weaknesses and the depth of his abilities. Intense training prior to the 2018 Games went well thanks to the Ukrainian government providing its athletes material aid and a training base.
Oksana Masters medals
Three weeks after injuring her elbow and one day after suffering a fall and withdrawing from a race, Oksana Masters won gold at the Paralympics. Masters, a four-time Paralympian, won the cross-country sprint on the fourth day of competition. She won the 1.1-km race by more than two seconds over runner-up Andrea Eksau of Germany.
“I did not believe this would happen,” Masters said after the race, according to a news release. “I knew that I wasn’t going to let yesterday be my last race. I couldn’t believe it, but at the same time, I knew I had it in me to dig deep a couple more times. I could not have done this without the USOC medical staff.”
Masters was forced to withdraw from the middle-distance biathlon event after falling in the race. Earlier in the Games, she won silver in the biathlon sprint and bronze in the cross-country 12-km. On the fifth day of competition, Oksana added a silver medal in the women’s 12.5-km sitting, shooting 20 for 20, 19 seconds behind Germany’s Eskau. She proceeded to add to her medal collection with yet another gold medal finish in the women’s 5-km, sitting.
Masters’ collection of five total medals, including two golds, earned her flag bearer privileges representing her adopted home country, the United States, at the 2018 Paralympics closing ceremony.
Masters left PyeongChang with a career total of eight medals.