Voronchikhina wins Russia’s first medal at Games

Para-alpine skier Varvara Voronchikhina won Russia’s first medal of the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics with downhill bronze – marking the first time the Russian flag will appear on the medal table at a Games since 2014.

Voronchikhina and her Russian team-mates only returned to international competition in January after their country won an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) against FIS, the international governing body for skiing and snowboarding.

That ban had been in place since 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the eve of the Winter Paralympics four years ago, although it was softened the following year to allow athletes to compete as neutrals.

The Russian flag has not been flown at a Paralympic Games or shown on the medal table since Sochi 2014, firstly because of the country’s state-sponsored doping scandal, before the Ukraine war led to those further sanctions.

Voronchikhina, 23, finished 2.47 seconds shy of the gold medal-winning time set by Sweden’s Ebba Aarsjoe in the standing downhill event in Cortina, while France’s Aurelie Richard took silver.

“It’s a really long time when we were without the flag, and I’m really glad [now],” Voronchikhina said. “All my country and all my team-mates, we [are] glad also.”

Because of the outright ban on all Russian athletes from the Beijing Games four years ago, Voronchikhina is competing at her first Paralympics, despite being a two-time world champion in the Para-alpine skiing events.

She will compete in five further disciplines during these Games.

The inclusion of six Russian and four Belarusian athletes, able to compete under their national flag and in their country’s colours, at the 2026 Winter Paralympics has caused uproar, with seven nations – including Ukraine – opting to boycott Friday’s opening ceremony in Verona.

Earlier on Friday, IPC president Andrew Parsons told BBC Sport that Russian soldiers injured in the war with Ukraine will be allowed to compete at future Paralympic Games.

An investigation by Poland-based news outlet Vot Tak, as reported by the Moscow Times, found Russia is fast-tracking injured soldiers into Para-sport.

The Russian Paralympic Committee has reportedly said that “at least 70” veterans are now competing in national teams.

Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was disqualified from last month’s Winter Olympics because he wished to compete wearing a helmet featuring images of Ukrainian athletes killed during the Russian invasion, later responded to the BBC’s interview with Parsons on X.

“The head of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) literally stated that they don’t care about what Russian soldiers did in Ukraine. The problem is that we do care,” he said.

“They are killing Ukrainians on the battlefield, bombing our cities, and committing genocide. Now, with this step of allowing them to compete, the IPC is giving them the opportunity to continue committing genocide by spreading Russian narratives with Russian flags and symbols.

“This whole story is just getting worse and worse.”