Ukrainian Paralympians win five gold medals in a day and move up to fifth place

Meanwhile, Maksym Krypak also broke the world Paralympic record in addition to winning gold.

Ukraine won five gold medals at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo on August 28, thanks to five swimmers.

The medalists were swimmers Mykhailo Serbin, Yevgen Bohodaiko, Maksym Krypak, Denys Dubrov and Yelyzaveta Mereshko.

Paralympic results for August 28

In the 100-meter backstroke, Mykhailo Serbin took first place and won gold. Ukrainian Viktor Smirnov finished second, winning silver. Chinese swimmer Bozun Yang took third place in the event. 

Meanwhile, Yevgen Bohodaiko was considered one of the most experienced swimmers on Ukraine's team in the 100-meter breaststroke. He has five Paralympic gold medals; he became champion in this event in 2012 and 2016.

However, in Tokyo in the 100-meter breaststroke, Bohodaiko was not in the lead. He was behind Colombian Crispin Corzo, Australian Matthew Levy and China's Hong Yangwu.

However, in the final stretch Bohodaiko overtook Corzo by 0.06 seconds, became Paralympic champion and avenged his defeat to the Colombian at the world championships.

Additionally, Ukrainian Maksym Krypak (class S10) won the gold medal with a new world Paralympic record in the 100-meter freestyle.

In the 100-meter freestyle final, Krypak not only won gold but also swam the distance with a new world Paralympic record. Krypak's time was 50.64 seconds. He beat the previous record set by Brazilian Andre Brasil in this class in August 2010 by 0.23 seconds.

This is Krypak's sixth Paralympic gold medal and fifth at the Tokyo Games.

Also, swimmer Denys Dubrov (class S8) won the gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley. His main rival was American Robert Griswold.

However, in the final Dubrov had to compete with two Chinese swimmers, Xu Haijiao and Yang Guanglong. Dubrov managed to beat his closest rival, Xu Haijiao, by just 0.1 seconds. 

Also, Ukrainian swimmer Yelyzaveta Mereshko became Paralympic champion in Tokyo. The Ukrainian swam the 100-meter breaststroke (class S5) with the best time of 1:40.59. British swimmer Grace Harvey finished second with a result of 1:42.22, and third was Verena Schott of Germany with a result of 1:43.61.

Thanks to winning five gold medals in one day, Ukraine moved from tenth to fifth place in the medal table on August 28.