Moscow, Feb 16 (IANS) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev extended his congratulations on Friday to Russian skeleton racer Nikita Tregubov and cross-country skier Denis Spitsov for winning silver and bronze medals respectively at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Koreas PyeongChang.

Russia’s 23-year-old Tregubov showed an aggregate result of three minutes 22.18 seconds after four heats, which earned him a silver medal, reports Tass news agency.

The gold went to South Korea’s Yun Sungbin and Dom Parsons of Great Britain packed bronze.

“Our athletes won another medal in PyeongChang and it is the silver of skeleton racer Nikita Tregubov. My congratulations,” Medvedev wrote in his Twitter account.

Spitsov became the first athlete from Russia to win an Olympic medal in the men’s 15 km free cross country skiing. Russian cross country skiers won medals in this competition last time at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, where they competed for the Soviet Union.

“We have bronze in cross country skiing and it was brought by Denis Spitsov. My congratulations,” Medvedev tweeted.

The team of Olympic athletes from Russia is currently 13th in the medal standings of the 2018 Winter Games with a total of seven medals — two silver and five bronze.

Late last year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) over doping abuse allegations but allowed clean Russian athletes to participate in the 2018 Winter Games under the Olympic flag and in the neutral status of an Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR).

The 23rd Winter Olympic Games kicked off in PyeongChang with an opening ceremony on February 9 and will conclude on February 25.

–IANS
sam/bg