CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, March 9 (Reuters) - Russia claimed their first gold medal on Monday following a disputed return to the Paralympics when skier Varvara Voronchikhina won the women's Super-G standing race.
Russia and neighbour Belarus, both banned from Paralympic competitions after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, were readmitted by the International Paralympic Committee in September following a vote by the body's general assembly.
The decision has caused outrage in Ukraine and a number of countries boycotted the athletes' parade at the opening ceremony in Verona on Friday in protest.
Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev offered his congratulations to Voronchikhina.
«Well done! The Russian national anthem is playing,» he wrote on Telegram in a message featuring emojis of the Russian coat of arms and flag.
A video posted on Telegram showed Voronchikhina saying «Mum, I did it!» to the camera, before bursting into tears.
Voronchikhina, 23, had taken bronze in the women's downhill standing event on Saturday, while her compatriot Aleksei Bugaev finished third in the men's race. (Reporting by Keith Weir and Maxim Rodionov, editing by Gavin Jones and Christian Radnedge)
