This comes following fears in the months leading up to the Games that events would be poorly attended after sales, particularly in Russia, were lower than anticipated - with International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Sir Philip Craven among those to admit concerns.  

But after recent reassurances that this would not be the case it was revealed today that 287,000 tickets have already been sold, beating the previous record set in Vancouver four years ago by 57,000 sales.

More than 45,000 people visited the Olympic Park yesterday and more than 2,000 people attended the evening medals ceremony in the mountain venue of Rosa Khutor.

The Games are also breaking records in terms of online views - with more people visiting the IPC website in the first 24 hours of the Games than during all ten days of Vancouver 2010. 

In fact, by 1pm this afternoon, nearly 85 per cent more people had visited the website than they did four years ago and it is claimed this underlines the "growing appeal" of the Paralympic Games as a whole.

Spectators attend the Russia versus South Korea ice sledge hockey match ©Getty Images



"We are delighted to break two significant records so early during Sochi 2014," said IPC director of media and communications Craig Spence when reflecting on both the ticket sales and viewing figures.

"The Organising Committee has done a great job in raising Paralympic awareness which has helped ticket sales reach their record levels.

"The IPC website appears to be growing in popularity all the time.