Ukraine, with seven medals collected on Saturday, including three gold, is one title ahead of the host country (8 medals, including two gold).

Family

A 100% yellow and blue podium in biathlon, a few days after the journey of the Ukrainian delegation to reach Beijing despite the Russian invasion and the war.

Crowned Paralympic champion in front of his compatriots Oleksandr Kazik and Dmytro Suiarko during the sprint (visually impaired category), Vitalii Lukianenko, 43, dedicated his medal "to the guys who protect our cities".

Faced like all of its country with the Russian invasion for more than a week, the Ukrainian delegation, made up of 29 athletes (including nine guides), spoke on Thursday of the "miracle" of having arrived in China to compete in the games.

Visually impaired biathlete Vitalii Lukianenko, winner of the Paralympic Games in Beijing, congratulated by his compatriot Dmytro Suiarko, March 5, 2022 LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA AFP

The team had to travel part of the way by bus before flying to Beijing.

The Russian and Belarusian athletes had meanwhile been banned on Thursday, the day before the opening ceremony, by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

The other two Ukrainian titles were won, still in biathlon, by Oksana Shyshkova, in the visually impaired category, and Grygorii Vovchynskyi, in the standing category.

The latter described Ukraine as "a big family".

"The medals are of no importance, compared to what our loved ones are going through and the people who have already suffered from the war" in Ukraine, declared Oksana Shyshkova for her part.

Sacred in sprint (sitting), the American Oksana Masters, of Ukrainian origin, wanted to dedicate her medal "as much for the United States team as for Ukraine", reports the CIP.

Ambitious China

China had only won one Paralympic medal before these Games, gold in wheelchair curling, in 2018 in Korea.

In one day, the very ambitious host country did better with two Paralympic titles in biathlon on Saturday, awarded to Liu Zixu (men's sprint sitting) and Guo Yujie (women's sprint standing).

With a delegation of 96 athletes, China, which intends to impose itself on the Paralympic scene, has eight charms at the end of this first day.

Chinese biathlete Liu Zixu, titled in the sprint at the Paralympic Games in Beijing, March 5, 2022 LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA AFP

Beyond the biathlon, the Chinese also performed well in alpine skiing with two silver medals including that of Zhang Mengqiu in the women's downhill (standing category).

The 19-year-old skier benefited in particular from the poor performance of eight-time French gold medalist Marie Bochet, who lost her ski on the second gate.

Canadian Mollie Jepsen, four-time medalist in 2018, was crowned.

In the visually impaired category, Slovak Henrieta Farkasova, 35, won her 10th Paralympic title for her fourth participation in the Games.

She is ahead of Zhu Daqing and the British Millie Knight.

Among the men, the Austrian Johannes Aigner, a young prodigy of 16 years, offered him his very first title for his first Paralympiads.

First title also for the Frenchman Arthur Bauchet in the standing category.

© 2022 AFP