Denis Ostapchenko becomes Paralympic champion in swimming.
Swimmer Denis Ostapchenko brought Ukraine its fourth gold medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
He finished first in the 50-meter backstroke (S3 class) with a result of 45.16 seconds.
German Josiah Topf won “silver” (47.06 seconds), and another Ukrainian, Serhiy Palamarchuk, won bronze (50.48 seconds).
For Ostapchenko, this is the second “gold” in his career at the Paralympics. At the 2020 Games in Tokyo, he triumphed in the 200-meter freestyle.
Another medal on the fifth competition day of the 2024 Paralympics for Ukraine was won by Andriy Trusov – “silver” in swimming in the 400-meter freestyle (class S7).
This is Trusov's second medal at the Paralympics in Paris. He also won silver in the 200-meter medley.
Thus, the Ukrainian team has already won 30 medals at the current Paralympic Games – 4 gold, 11 silver and 15 bronze.
The Paralympic Games in Paris will last until September 8. Ukraine is represented by 140 athletes competing in 17 sports. This is a record number of sports in the Paralympic history of Ukraine.
Recall that at the previous Summer Paralympic Games, which took place in 2021 in Tokyo, Ukrainian athletes won 98 awards: 24 gold, 47 silver and 27 bronze. With this result, Ukraine took sixth place in the medal count and became fifth in the number of awards.