Ukraine at the 2018 Winter Paralympics

**Ukraine** sent people to compete at the **2018 Winter Paralympics** in Pyeongchang, South Korea. People from Ukraine competed in para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing and para-snowboarding. The National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine, Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and Lifecell helped the team go to the Winter Paralympics.  They gave the team money, clothes and mobile phones.  They also gave money to pay for people to practice for their races.

On the first day of competition, Anatolii Kovalevskyi, Liudmyla Liashenko, Vitaliy Luk'yanenko, Ihor Reptyukh and Oksana Shyshkova all won medals in the biathlon.  The Government of Ukraine gives monetary awards to Paralympic Games medalists.  For the 2018 Winter Paralympics,  dold medalists get USD$125,000, silver medalists get USD$80,000 and bronze medalists get USD$55,000.

## Team

The first time Ukraine sent people to the Winter Paralympics was in 1998. At the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Ukraine was the fourth country by total medals won.  People from Ukraine went to Pyeongchang to compete in  para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing and para-snowboarding.

The table below contains the list of members of people (called "Team Ukraine") that will be participating in the 2018 Games.
|Name|Sport|Gender|Classification|Events|ref|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Oleksandra Kononova|para-Nordic skiing|female|LW2-9|biathlon||
|Anatolii Kovalevskyi|para-Nordic skiing|male||biathlon||
|Liudmyla Liashenko|para-Nordic skiing|female||biathlon||
|Vitaliy Luk'yanenko|para-Nordic skiing|male||biathlon||
|Ihor Reptyukh|para-Nordic skiing|male||biathlon||
|Oksana Shyshkova|para-Nordic skiing|female|B2|biathlon||

## Help for the team

Help for the team was given by the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine, Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and a mobile phone company named Lifecell.

The government of Ukraine gave money to the national team for the 2018 Winter Paralympics. The money was for clothes, footwear and accessories for competition, and the opening and closing of the 2018 Paralympics. The government gave people UAH 20.2 million in 2017 to practice for the Winter Paralympics.  In 2018, the government gave people UAH 10.27 million.

Lifecell gave mobile phones to members of the team.  The phones could be used in Pyeongchang by people from Ukraine for free.

## Para-Nordic skiing

People from Ukraine thought the best luck to win a medal was in the biathlon.

### Schedule

On 12 March, the 15 km race takes place, with standing and vision impaired women starting at 10:00 PM.  Thee sprint classic qualification takes place on 14 March from 10:00 AM – 11:25 AM for both men and women in all classes. It is followed in the afternoon by the semifinals and finals.  The classic race takes place on 17 March. The standing and visually impaired women's race takes place from 10:00 AM - 12:30.

#### Biathlon

In the men's 7.5 km standing race,  Benjamin Daviet of France won gold, Mark Arendz won silver and Ihor Reptyukh of Ukraine won bronze. In the men's 7.5 km visually impaired race,  Vitaliy Luk'yanenko of Ukraine won gold, Yury Holub of Belarus won silver and Anatolii Kovalevskyi of Ukraine won bronze. In the women's 6 km biathlon standing race,  Ekaterina Rumyantseva won gold, Anna Milenina won silver, and Liudmyla Liashenko of Ukraine won bronze. In the women's 6 km biathlon visually impaired race,  Mikhalina Lysova won gold,  Oksana Shyshkova of Ukraine won silver and Sviatlana Sakhanenka of Belarus won bronze.

#### Cross country skiing

In cross country skiing's men's 15 km sitting race, Maksym Yarovyi of Ukraine won gold, Daniel Cnossen of the United States won silver, and Sin Eui Hyun won bronze.

## Medalists

Ukrainian sportspeople who win a Paralympic medal get money from the government as part of an work of the government to bring dignity and make life better for Paralympians compared to Ukrainian Olympians.  Gold medalists get USD$125,000.  Silver medalists get USD$80,000.  Bronze medalists get USD$55,000.