Ukraine top Winter Paralympics medal table with three golds on opening day

‘I tried thinking about the competition, but it’s difficult. What’s more important is life. It’s our people, our children.’

Vitalii Lukianenko led home a Ukraine clean sweep of the visually impaired sprint biathlon (AFP via Getty Images)

All gold medals matter but some gold medals just matter more.

Ukraine's Paralympians vowed to make these winter Games another frontline in their country's fight for freedom, competing in Beijing whilst unsure of the safety of their family and loved ones back home.

Vitalii Lukianenko – who led home a 1-2-3 clean sweep for his country - was one of three Ukrainian gold medallists on the first day of the Winter Paralympics, as the country topped the medal table, with three additional silvers and a bronze.

Lukianenko is from Kharkiv, a city reeling under daily bombardment from advancing Russian troops. His wife and daughter are there and he's not spoken to them since arriving at the Games and he’s no idea when he will see them again or if they know he won.

At 43, the oldest athlete on the team took gold – he’d won two silvers and two bronzes at previous Games - in the visually impaired sprint biathlon, just ahead of teammates Oleksandr Kazik and Dmytro Suiarko. Ukraine’s Oskana Shyshkova won the women's competition.

The Ukrainian delegation spent nearly 40 hours travelling to China, via Poland, Slovakia, Austria and Italy, a team of 54 competing under an unimaginable pressure.

At every venue, there is a special area where athletes can interact virtually with their families, who have been denied the chance to travel to Beijing because of strict pandemic controls.

No-one is there for the Ukrainian athletes, who reach for their phones after crossing the line, not to share their performances with loved ones but to check if they were still alive.

Ukraine top the medal table after the first day of the Winter Paralympics (Getty Images)

Grygorii Vovchynskyi also topped the podium in the men's standing biathlon event, dedicating his gold to those suffering back home.

"I was thinking before the race, I must try to do everything for Ukraine. I must think about war, about my country, about my people, about my president. I love Ukraine," he said.

"I tried thinking about the competition, but it's difficult. What's more important is life. It's our people, our children.

"When a mother defends her child, it's about what she can do. When a person protects his homeland, what can he do? What can I do for my Ukraine, for my country?

"I'm trying to do my best to represent my country and make the whole world hear the name of Ukraine every day and every time."

"I am worried and afraid. It was difficult for me when the war began. I cried every day. I didn't understand what happened.

"What can I do? I can only dedicate this race to Ukraine and peace."