March 7, 2026 – Paralympics – Milan 2026 – Ukraine’s Taras Rad has won a gold medal, the first for his country at the 2026 Paralympic Games. The victory came in the men’s 7.5km sprint sitting class in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. Taras Rad crossed the finish line in 19:55.5 minutes and completed the distance without any misses.
Twenty-eight athletes participated in the race. Rad, 26, shot clean at both shooting stages and set the fastest time on the course to win the sitting class for para-athletes with impairments in the musculoskeletal system.
He beat two Chinese athletes, Mengtao Liu and Zixu Liu, who also shot clean.
Four other Ukrainians finished in the top 15. Vasyl Kravchuk, finished fourth. Oleksandr Aleksyk finished in 9th (see more results below).
2026 Paralympic Games. Sprint, men, sitting class
- 1. 🥇 Taras Rad (Ukraine, LW12, 0+0) 19:55,5
- 2. 🥈 Mengtao Liu (China, LW12, 0+0) +9,3
- 3. 🥉 Zixu Liu (China, LW12, 0+0) +17,6
- 4. Vasyl Kravchuk (Ukraine, LW11, 0+0) +31,5
- 9. Oleksandr Aleksyk (Ukraine, LW12, 0+0) +1:00,3
- 12. Pavlo Bal (Ukraine, LW11.5, 1+1) +1:32,9
- 15. Hryhorii Shymko (Ukraine, LW10.5, 1+2) +2:38,2
This is Ukraine’s first medal at the 2026 Paralympics and Rad’s second Paralympic gold. Four years ago at Beijing 2022, he won the 12.5km race.
