By <font color="#0070c0">Yoon Sojung</font>

Para cross-country skier Sin Eui-Hyun became the first-ever Korean gold medalist at a Winter Paralympic Games on March 17.

The skier won the men’s 7.5 km sitting cross-country skiing event at the Alpensia Biathlon Centre with a time of 22:28:40, writing new pages in the history of Korean Winter Paralympics.



Sin started the race as the 33rd among 34 athletes.
He clocked in at 2:13:00 at the first check point after 0.71 km, following Daniel Cnossen of the U.S.

At the second check in point at 2.41 km, Sin was in the lead with a time of 7:11:90, surpassing Maksym Yarovyi of Ukraine. At the third check in point at 3.52 km, he widened the gap by 45 seconds ahead of the second-place Cnossen.

The race got fierce at the end, as Sin lost some of his stamina.

The gap between Sin and second-place Cnossen narrowed to 6.1 seconds at the 4.95 km point, and to 2.6 seconds at the 5.67 km point. Nonetheless, Sin managed to keep his lead and won a precious gold medal around his neck. Cnossen followed him 5.0 seconds later.

Sin celebrated his victory with tears after winning the race. He thanked the audience that cheered for him. Earlier on March 11, Sin expressed his longing for gold after winning a bronze medal in the cross-country skiing men’s 15 km sitting event.

Later that day, Sin held a press conference at the PyeongChang Athletes’ Village.

“Thanks to all the support from so many people, I was able to win the gold,” he said, expressing his gratitude for their support.

“I couldn’t sleep well last night, as I didn’t shoot well in the biathlon yesterday. Today, I did it. It was do-or-die for me.”

“I didn’t expect a gold, but I did take care to sprint a bit more, which brought a good result,” he said.

He also sent a special message to all people with disabilities.

“I hope you can forget about the accident, as you can’t turn back time. Instead, I hope you can have positive thoughts and come out on the other side and take an active part in society.”




arete@korea.kr