North Korea at the 2018 Winter Paralympics explained

Npc:PRK
Games:Winter Paralympics
Year:2018
Location:Pyeongchang
Competitors:2
Sports:1
Flagbearer:Kim Jong-hyon
Appearances:auto
App Begin Year:2018

North Korea was one of the competing teams in 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The Games were the first for North Korea for the Winter Paralympics. The country has two skiers, Kim Jong-hyon (김정현) and Ma Yu-chol (마유철), racing in para-Nordic skiing.

Joint participation with South Korea

The International Paralympic Committee said North Korea was going to participate in the Winter Games for the first time. North Korea will participate under a Korean Unification Flag like their delegation for the 2018 Winter Olympics did, in the Women's Ice Hockey tournament.[1] However, North Korea athletes marched in the Paralympics opening ceremony under its own flag, unlike the Olympics opening ceremony where they marched under the Korean unification flag along with South Korean athletes.[2]

North Korea had previously participated at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics.[3]

Competitors

The following is the list of number of competitors participating at the Games per sport.[4]

width=180Sportwidth=55Menwidth=55Womenwidth=55Total
Cross-country skiing2 0 2
Total 2 0 2

Two athletes represented North Korea at the 2018 Winter Paralympics. They were Kim Jong-hyon and Ma Yu-chol and both competed in para-Nordic skiing.

Team North Korea!Name!Sport!Gender!Classification!Year of Birth!Events!ref
Kim Jong-hyonpara-Nordic skiingmaleLW122000Men's 1.1km Sprint, Sitting
Men's 15km, Sitting
[5]
Ma Yu-cholpara-Nordic skiingmaleLW121991Men's 1.1km Sprint, Sitting
Men's 15km, Sitting

Cross-country skiing

See main article: article and Cross-country skiing at the 2018 Winter Paralympics.

The two athletes Kim Jong-hyon and Ma Yu-chol first competed internationally at the 2018 Paralympic Nordic Skiing World Cup, in Oberried, Germany in January 2018. Kim was 59th in the world in January 2018 in the sitting cross country skiing men's race with 516.18 points. Ma was 58th in the world in January 2018 in the sitting cross country skiing men's race with 505.88 points.

Notes and References

  1. News: North Korea invited to participate in first-ever Winter Paralympic Games at Pyeongchang 2018. 2018-02-02. 2018-02-13.
  2. Web site: North, South Korea to march separately in Paralympics opening ceremony . CBC Sports . March 8, 2018.
  3. News: Winter Paralympics: IPC invites two North Korean skiers to take part. 2018-02-02. BBC Sport. 2018-02-13. en-GB.
  4. Web site: NPC Entries - Democratic People's Republic of Korea . Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympic Games . 9 March 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180310074018/https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/en/game-time/results/PWG2018/en/general/npc-entries-dpr-korea.htm . 10 March 2018 . dead .
  5. Web site: Nordic skiing rankings. International Paralympic Committee. 2018-02-14. 2020-10-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20201027201726/https://www.paralympic.org/nordic-skiing/rankings. dead.