Vitaliy Volodymyrovych Lukyanenko (, born 15 May 1978) is a Ukrainian

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not ti ...

, cross-country skier, and

Paralympian The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

. He is

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B3 (under 10% functional vision), and competes in the visually impaired category. He competed at the

2022 Winter Paralympics The 2022 Winter Paralympics (), also known as XIII Paralympic Winter Games, commonly known as Beijing 2022 (), were an international winter multi-sport parasports event held in Beijing, China, from 4 to 13 March 2022. This was the 13th Winter ...

, winning a gold medal in the men's 6 kilometres and 10 kilometres biathlon events.

Career

Lukyanenko began skiing at age ten. At the

2002 Winter Paralympics The 2002 Winter Paralympics, the eighth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, from 7 to 16 March 2002. A total of 416 athletes from 36 nations participated. They were the first Winter Paralympics in the Ameri ...

he competed in

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

and

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not ti ...

. In cross-country skiing, he took the bronze medal in the 5 km classical technique, B3. He placed 16th in the 20 km free technique, 4th in the 10 km free technique, B3, and 5th in the men's relay. In biathlon, he placed 11th in the 7.5 km free technique, blind. Lukyanenko competed in

and cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Paralympics. In cross-country skiing he took the bronze in the men's relay with Volodymyr Ivanov, Vladyslav Morozov, and Oleh Munts. He placed 7th in the men's 5 km, visually impaired. In biathlon, he took the gold medal in 12.5 km, and silver in 7.5 km, blind. Lukyanenko competed in

and

cross-country skiing at the 2010 Winter Paralympics The cross-country skiing competition of the Vancouver 2010 Paralympics were held at Whistler, British Columbia. The events were held between 14 and 21 March 2010. Medal table Events The program included a total of 20 events, 10 for men and ...

in Vancouver, Canada. In cross-country skiing he won silver in the men's relay, open with Ivanov, Grygorii Vovchynskyi, and Iurii Kostiuk. He placed 5th in the men's 1 km sprint, visually impaired. In biathlon, he took the bronze medal in the 12.5 km, and the gold medal in the men's 3 km pursuit, visually impaired. His

guide A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom. Travel and recreation Exp ...

at the 2002, 2006, and 2010 Paralympics was Volodymyr Ivanov. In biathlon, he won the gold medals in the men's 6 km and 10 kilometres visually impaired events, and a silver medal in the 12.5 kilometres visually impaired event at the

held in Beijing, China.

Personal life

Lukyanenko was born in

Sumy Sumy (, , ) is a city in northeastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Sumy Oblast. The city is situated on the banks of the Psel (river), Psel River and has a population of making it the 23rd-largest in the country. The city ...

. He has two daughters.

References

External links