The Magnificent six: the Russian national team is the third in the medal standings of the 2026 Paralympics

On the last day of the 2026 Paralympics in Italy, Russian skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasia Bagiyan, as well as alpine skier Alexey Bugaev, added three gold medals to the national team's collection. This success allowed our team, consisting of only six athletes, to rise to third place in the medal standings of the Games. In total, Russia has eight gold, one silver and three bronze medals — only China and the USA are higher in the table.

An emotional attraction

Before the last day of the Games, it was safe to say that the return of the Russian national team was fantastic. Nine medals, five of them gold, for a team of six people. With such a small team, our team was in the top 5 of the unofficial medal standings.

On the last day, Russian athletes, who for the first time since 2014 are competing at the Games with national symbols, confirmed their uniqueness by winning three more gold medals.

Ivan Golubkov was the first to distinguish himself: the skier won the 20 km race (class — sitting), covering the distance in 51 minutes 47.3 seconds. The bad weather did not hurt: the 30-year-old athlete confidently beat the favorites of the discipline — Chinese representative Mao Zhongwu and Italian Giuseppe Romele, who took second and third places respectively.

After the victory, Ivan shared his emotions.

— There are simply no words. I felt so good today, even I'm a little shocked," Golubkov quotes TASS. — For me, the more difficult the weather, the better. I've already tested this on myself more than once. I'm very confident in this weather. As for the yellow card, unfortunately, I was picked on yesterday. Somewhere they saw that I was getting up. Although I've been running for 20 years, I've never been picked on. I was a little nervous in the morning, but when I started, my thoughts went away. During the race, I heard people shouting at me, louder and louder.

"Grandma advised not to look at other athletes"

Russian Paralympic snowboarder Philippe Shebbo — about the goals for the Games in Italy, Galina Polsky's parting words and the production of unique prostheses

This is Golubkov's second gold medal in Italy, having previously won the 10 km split start race. Then the skier said that he almost ended his career because he could not compete in Beijing and Pyeongchang. However, his success at the current Games has motivated him to continue competing for the next four years.

Immediately after the men's race, the 20-kilometer race was held for women with visual impairment. Russian Anastasia Bagiyan won her third gold of these Games without feeling the competition: in the fight for the first place, she, along with leading athlete Sergey Sinyakin, beat Czech Simona Bubenchikova by almost four minutes. The third place was taken by Chinese Wang Yue (+5.08,9).

"Gold medals, of course, are not boring," 24—year—old Bagiyan is quoted as saying by Match TV. — The emotions are very vivid. It was a tough race, the weather was very specific, with rain. And the fall in the area of the turn. We rode alongside our rivals. It turned out, I didn't enter the turn, I got caught on the chips. I packed up quickly, didn't stay there. I dedicate this medal to my parents and family.

The triumph of the Russian athletes did not end there. Alexey Bugaev, a 28-year—old alpine skier, who previously won two bronze medals at the Games in downhill and giant slalom (standing class), — now I'm the winner in the slalom.

After the first attempt, he took the lead, and in the next race he finished second, passing Frenchman Arthur Bosch ahead. But the groundwork created during the first descent was enough for the final victory. Adam Hall from New Zealand took the second place (+2.83), while Robin Kuchet from Switzerland took the third place (+3.18).

Now Bugaev is a four—time Paralympic Games champion: previously, he won twice in Sochi (super combined and slalom) and once in Pyeongchang (super combined). In Italy, he was also close to gold in the super combined, but fell and lost his chance of a medal.

"The Paralympics were a good emotional attraction for me,— Alexey told reporters. — On the rise, then on the decline. Today I just wanted to sum up these Games with something good and significant, not only for myself, for the team, for the country, but also to support our medal standings, because we are fighting for it too. I had to add a gold medal to this piggy bank. I am glad that I succeeded.

Andrey said that before the final day, he recalled his emotions at the slalom in Sochi.:

— When I was young, I was also in the lead in the first attempt, with a smaller margin. Then I almost had a tantrum at the start. And in my opinion, it even happened, I don't remember very well, but it was very hard. Today I got away from it — calmly, with restraint, I understood what I had to do, step by step.

A triumph of will and skill

Skier Varvara Voronchikhina, competing in the LW6/8 class (arm injury), collected the most awards among Russians at these Games. She has a full set of awards in Italy: the 23-year-old athlete has twice climbed to the top of the podium after victories in supergiant and slalom, won silver in giant slalom and bronze in downhill.

12 years later: the anthem of the Russian Federation was played in honor of Voronchikhina's victory at the Paralympics

Our skier has won a long—awaited victory - how do other Russians perform

Only Russian para-snowboarders Philippe Shebbo and Dmitry Fadeev failed to reach the Milan prizes. However, thanks to the successful performance of other athletes, the national team was able to take third place in the final medal standings, beating the teams of Italy (7-7-2) and Austria (7-2-4) in a day. The Chinese national team (15-13-16) secured the first place, and the USA (12-5-6) secured the second place.

"I consider the performance of our athletes at the 2026 Paralympics to be a real triumph of will and skill," Oleg Matytsin, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, told Izvestia. — The third overall place in the medal standings is the result of tremendous work, which would be worthy of respect even in the most ideal conditions.

But the fact that our athletes have achieved this by performing in a truncated squad, without the usual competitive practice on the world stage, is a feat that cannot be overestimated, he added. Oleg Matytsin expressed gratitude to those who forged this victory: first of all, our outstanding athletes and their personal trainers. "You have proved that no restrictions can break the Russian character," stressed the head of the State Duma Committee.

Matytsin expressed special gratitude to the head of the PKR Pavel Rozhkov.

"Your herculean work as head of the Russian Paralympic Committee, a systematic approach to training and incredible dedication have allowed us to preserve the team, create conditions for training and maintain morale during this difficult time," he continued. — We once again felt an incomparable sense of pride for our country in those moments when the Russian national anthem sounded over the stadiums and our flag was raised. This is the joy of unity, the joy of the triumph of sport and justice.

70 people played for the Chinese team, 68 for the USA.