Today at 19:04
The Ukrainian skiing team won three gold, three silver, and three bronze medals at the 2019 Winter Deaflympics in Italy. Dmytro Mazhaiev from the city of Sumy came first in the ten-kilometer freestyle, ten-kilometer pursuit and five-kilometer individual classic. He is the first Ukrainian to win gold at the Winter Deaflympics, something the team has waited 17 years for.
“Before the start, I was a bit worried, but then I pulled myself together. I was confident. I trained a lot. What can I say now? I won gold. The competition was difficult, but I did my best,” Dmytro Mazhayev, three-time champion of 2019 Deaflympics, said.
Halyna Hlazko, head coach of Ukraine’s Deaflympic team in Cross-Country skiing, said, “I was very worried about Dmytro because he’s a very emotional person. I was afraid he might burn himself out, but it didn’t happen. Instead, we won the long-awaited gold medal,”
All but one of the Ukrainian men’s curling team were new to the competition. They finished seventh place out of eight.
Curling player Hennadiy Stasiuk, said, “We made some mistakes but we won’t give up. There will be more competitions. We will continue to compete, to win. We want to show that the Ukrainian team is strong. That we are the best!”
Ukrainian chess players, who took part in the Deaflympics for the first time this year, also won gold. On the first day of the competition, Tetiana Baklanova won silver in a five-hour blitz tournament.
On the last day, the women’s national team of Ukraine defeated Kazakhstan and became the champions.
