Press releases

MINSK, 9 March (BelTA) - Vasily Shapteboi (B2 class) won the first medal for Belarus at the 2014 Sochi Paralympics after coming in third in the men’s 7.5km biathlon race for visually impaired, BelTA has learnt.

Vasily Shapteboi missed once and crossed the finish line in 21:06.6, 47.8 seconds behind the leader, Ukraine’s Vitaly Lukyanenko (B3), who shot clean and clocked 20:18.8. Silver went to Russia’s Nikolai Polukhin (B2), who was only 11 seconds back. All in all, 17 biathletes finished in that race.

Biathlete Yadviga Skorobogataya (B2) was not equally successful in the women’s 6km visually-impaired category. She took 6th place in 22:50.9 (2:47.7 back, 2 penalties). Mikhalina Lysova of Russia (B2) won gold thanks to a brilliant shooting display. Silver also went to Russia, with Yulia Budaleyeva being 28.5 seconds behind the leader and having two penalties. Oksana Shishkova (B2) bagged bronze (+45.8 seconds; 0).