First gold of Games for Ukraine

Ukraine have won the women's biathlon relay to pick up their first gold medal of the Sochi Games.

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The team, made up of anchor Olena Pidhrushna, Juliya Dzhyma, and twins Valj and Vita Semerenko, finished the 4x6km course in a time of 1 hour, 10 minutes and 2.5 seconds.

Defending champions Russia finished 24.4 seconds behind the leaders to take silver, while bronze went to Norway.

The Ukrainian triumph comes on the back of the news that as many as 20 athletes have departed the Winter Olympics amid violence in their homeland.