Belarusian athletes won 9 medals at the X Winter Paralympic Games in Canada

March 22, Minsk / Sergei Vishnevsky - BELTA /. Belarusian athletes won 9 medals at the X Winter Paralympic Games, which took place from March 12 to 21 in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada, reports BELTA correspondent. On the final day, the ninth award for the Belarusian team was won by Lyudmila Volchek, who took bronze in the women's 1 km sitting cross-country skiing sprint final for athletes with musculoskeletal disorders (3 min 01.9 sec). Gold was won by Italian Francesca Porcellato (2 min 58.5 sec), silver by Ukrainian Alena Yurkovska (3 min 00 sec). Belarusian Larisa Vorona also reached the final of the 1 km standing cross-country skiing sprint for athletes with musculoskeletal disorders, taking 4th place (4 min 34.5 sec). Gold here was won by Ukrainian Oleksandra Kononova (4 min 21.4 sec), silver by Japanese Shoko Ota (4 min 26.8 sec), and bronze by Russian Anna Burmistrova (4 min 31.3 sec). In the Paralympic medal standings, Belarus with 9 awards (2 gold, 7 bronze) took 9th place, repeating the record result of Turin-2006 in terms of the total number of prize-winning places (1 gold, 6 silver, 2 bronze medals). In terms of the number of gold medals, the Games in Canada were record-breaking for the Belarusian team. Moreover, both gold medals were won by the captain of our team, Lyudmila Volchek, in cross-country skiing at distances of 10 km and 5 km among sitting athletes with musculoskeletal disorders. Lyudmila Volchek also has two bronzes – in the 1 km sprint and in the women's 3x2.5 km cross-country skiing relay, where she won this medal together with Larisa Vorona and Yadviga Skorobogata. Bronze medalists also included Vasily Shapteboy in the 20 km freestyle cross-country skiing race for visually impaired athletes and in the 3 km biathlon pursuit race, Yadviga Skorobogata in the 15 km freestyle race for visually impaired athletes, Dmitry Loban in the 10 km cross-country skiing race for sitting athletes with musculoskeletal disorders, Larisa Vorona in the 5 km classic cross-country skiing race for standing athletes with musculoskeletal disorders. Before the start of the Paralympics, the Belarusian team expected to win 5 medals. This forecast has been exceeded. Another 6 times, Belarusian Paralympians were one step away from the podium, taking 4th place. In total, awards were won by representatives of 21 countries: 1. Germany - 13 gold, 5 silver, 6 bronze (24 total) 2. Russia - 12, 16, 10 (38 total) 3. Canada - 10, 5, 4 (19 total) 4. Slovakia - 6, 2, 3 (11 total) 5. Ukraine - 5, 8, 6 (19 total) 6. USA - 4, 5, 4 (13 total) 7. Austria - 3, 4, 4 (11 total) 8. Japan - 3, 3, 5 (11 total) 9. Belarus - 2, 0, 7 (9 total) 10. France - 1, 4, 1 (6 total) 11. Italy - 1, 3, 3 (7 total) 12. Norway - 1, 3, 2 (6 total) 13. Spain - 1, 2, 0 (3 total) 13. Switzerland - 1, 2, 0 (3 total) 15. New Zealand - 1, 0, 0 (1 total) 16. Australia - 0, 1, 3 (4 total) 17. Finland - 0, 1, 1 (2 total) 18. South Korea - 0, 1, 0 (1 total) 19. Sweden - 0, 0, 2 (2 total) 20. Czech Republic - 0, 0, 1 (1 total) 20. Poland - 0, 0, 1 (1 total). 64 sets of medals were contested in five sports (biathlon, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, ice hockey, and curling). Athletes from 43 countries participated in the Paralympics. -0-