Russian athletes win first Winter Paralympic medals since 2014

Russia has won its first Winter Paralympic medals since 2014, with Varvara Voronchikhina and Aleksey Bugaev taking bronze in the women’s and men’s downhill standing events in Italy on Saturday.

Voronchikhina, 23, is a two-time para-alpine skiing world champion and is representing Russia at her first Paralympics event due to a long-standing ban on Russian athletes.

“I’m really, really happy. Maybe it hasn’t sunk in yet, but this is my first medal… I really feel proud; it’s very nice! Both that our flag is hanging in the stands and at the opening ceremony,” she told journalists at Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Three-time gold medalist Bugaev also celebrated the ability to compete under his national flag once more.

“I’m glad I can represent my country again… It’s nice not to be accused of anything, not restricted, not forced into hiding, like in Korea. It’s just stupid!” he told journalists. “We’re glad we can compete on a regular basis and win medals.”

The Russian Paralympic team was cleared to compete once more in January, after Moscow won an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the International Ski and Snowboard Federation. The body was still barring athletes from Russia despite the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) fully reinstating Russian and Belarusian participation last year.

Many Russian athletes were banned from competing after a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigation in 2015, following allegations of state-sponsored doping – which Moscow has consistently denied.

Dozens of the bans were later overturned on appeal at the CAS, which said there had been insufficient evidence to impose sanctions.

The Milano Paralympics opened on Friday, and is set to run until March 15. The Russian Paralympians will compete in snowboarding on Sunday.