Belarus at the 2018 Winter Paralympics facts for kids
Belarus sent a team of amazing athletes to the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. These athletes competed in a sport called para-Nordic skiing. Many on the team had competed in the Winter Paralympics before. Belarus has a strong history at the Winter Paralympics, first joining in 1994. Before going to South Korea, they had already won 23 Winter Paralympic medals!
On March 10, the first day of competition, four Belarusian athletes won medals in biathlon. These champions were Yury Holub, Dzmitry Loban, Lidziya Hrafeyeva, and Sviatlana Sakhanenka.
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Team Belarus at the Paralympics
Here is a list of the athletes who represented Belarus at the 2018 Winter Paralympics. They are known as "Team Belarus."
| Name | Sport | Gender | Classification | Events | ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yury Holub | para-Nordic skiing | male | B3 | biathlon | |
| Lidziya Hrafeyeva | para-Nordic skiing | female | biathlon | ||
| Dzmitry Loban | para-Nordic skiing | male | biathlon | ||
| Sviatlana Sakhanenka | para-Nordic skiing | female | biathlon | ||
| Vasili Shaptsiaboi | para-Nordic skiing | male | B2 | biathlon | |
| Liudmila Vauchock (Belarusian: Людмілай Ваўчок) | para-Nordic skiing | female | cross country skiing |
Belarus's Paralympic History
Belarus has competed in every Winter Paralympics since 1994. Before the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, they had already earned 23 medals. Most of these medals were in cross-country skiing. Only three medals were won in biathlon.
Almost half of Belarus's cross-country skiing medals were won by sit skier Liudmila Vauchock. At the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Belarus won three bronze medals. They finished eighteenth in the total medal count. These medals were won by Vasili Shaptsiaboi (Belarusian: Васіль Шапцябой) and Jadwiga Skorobogataya (Belarusian: Ядвіга Скорабагатая).
About Para-Nordic Skiing
Para-Nordic skiing includes two main sports: cross-country skiing and biathlon. Athletes with different disabilities compete in various classes.
Key Skiers from Belarus
Vasili Shaptsiaboi's Achievements
Vasili Shaptsiaboi was 38 years old during the 2018 Games. He had competed in the 2006, 2010, and 2014 Paralympics. During those Games, he won three bronze medals. Before the 2018 Games, he was the Belarusian man with the most Winter Paralympic medals.
Liudmila Vauchock's Journey
Liudmila Vauchock is a very experienced Paralympian. She has won almost half of Belarus's cross-country skiing medals. When she is not competing, she trains hard at Raubichi. Her training involves three intense days, followed by a day off, then three more intense days.
Liudmila uses a wheelchair due to an injury she had in the past. Before her injury, she was involved in athletics. She enjoyed skiing when she was in school. However, she felt she got more out of running back then. After her injury, others encouraged her to try skiing again. She says skiing gives her a feeling of freedom and speed. It makes her feel independent and helps her connect with nature. For Liudmila, the snow is not a problem; it's a path to freedom.
Liudmila prefers to focus on her sport rather than the attention it brings. When she went to Sochi, only her older brother came with her. Many people in Belarus were happy with her fifth-place finish in Sochi. However, she was sad because she wanted a better result. Even though there are challenges, and some places in Minsk are not easy to access, she is not sad about her injury. She believes that without it, she might not have become an elite athlete.
Competition Schedule
The para-Nordic skiing events had a specific schedule:
- On March 12, the 15 km race took place. Women in standing and vision impaired classes started at 10:00 PM.
- On March 14, the sprint classic qualification happened from 10:00 AM to 11:25 AM. This was for both men and women in all classes. Semifinals and finals followed in the afternoon.
- The classic race took place on March 17. The standing and visually impaired women's race was from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM.
Medal Results
Here are some of the medal winners from the para-Nordic skiing events:
- In the men's 7.5 km sitting event, Daniel Cnossen from the United States won gold. Dzmitry Loban from Belarus won silver, and Collin Cameron from Canada won bronze.
- In the men's 7.5 km visually impaired race, Vitaliy Luk'yanenko from Ukraine won gold. Yury Holub from Belarus won silver, and Anatolii Kovalevskyi from Ukraine won bronze.
- In the women's 6 km biathlon sitting race, Kendall Gretsch from the United States won gold. Oksana Masters won silver, and Lidziya Hrafeyeva from Belarus won bronze.
- In the women's 6 km biathlon visually impaired race, Mikhalina Lysova won gold. Oksana Shyshkova from Ukraine won silver, and Sviatlana Sakhanenka from Belarus won bronze.
See also
In Spanish: Bielorrusia en los Juegos Paralímpicos de Pyeongchang 2018 para niños
