Ukrainian swimmers make waves with four medals on first day of Paralympics 2024

The Ukrainian national team took home four medals on August 29, the first day of competition at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. With both silver and bronze, they dominated in swimming events.

Suspilne Sport reports this.

Anton Kol, a native of Dnipro, received the first award for finishing second in the S1 class in the 100m backstroke.

Iryna Poida, a 26-year-old swimmer from Kherson, won the second silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle competition in the S5 class. Suspilne says this marks Poida's first medal at the Paralympic Games.

Anna Hontar, a woman from Kherson who represented the Mykolaiv region, won the "bronze" in the 50-meter freestyle competition in the S6 class.

Oleksandr Komarov, a Mariupol resident, won Ukraine's third medal in the 200-meter freestyle S5 event at the 2024 Paralympics. This was his fourth career Paralympics. He earned a bronze medal for his performance.

After the first day of competition, Ukraine is ranked 17th in the medal standings. China is leading with four gold medals earned during the day.

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It should be noted that on August 13, the 2024 Olympics participants and medalists returned to Ukraine, where relatives, friends, and fans met them.

The 2024 Summer Paralympic Games will be held from August 28 to September 8, 2024, in Paris at the same venues used for the Olympic Games.

This year, Ukraine is represented by the largest delegation in its history — 140 athletes in 17 out of 22 sports.

At the opening ceremony, the Ukrainian flag was carried by fencer Olena Fedota-Isaieva and rower Roman Poliansky.

At the previous competitions in Tokyo, Ukraine took 6th place in the medal count, having won a total of 98 awards, 24 of which were gold.