Biathlon at the 2018 Winter Paralympics facts for kids
The Biathlon events at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games were held on March 10, 13, and 16, 2018. These exciting competitions took place at the Alpensia Biathlon Center in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Biathlon is a unique winter sport that mixes two very different skills: cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Athletes ski a certain distance, then stop to shoot at targets. It's a true test of both speed and how steady your aim is!
At the Paralympics, athletes with various disabilities compete. This makes the sport incredibly inspiring and shows amazing athletic ability.
About the Biathlon Events
In the 2018 Paralympic Biathlon, athletes competed in different race lengths. These distances varied for men and women:
- Short distances: Men raced 7.5 kilometers (about 4.6 miles), while women raced 6 kilometers (about 3.7 miles).
- Medium distances: Men raced 12.5 kilometers (about 7.7 miles), and women raced 10 kilometers (about 6.2 miles).
- Long distances: Men raced 15 kilometers (about 9.3 miles), and women raced 12.5 kilometers (about 7.7 miles).
Athletes were grouped into categories based on their disability. This helps make the competition fair:
- Vision Impaired (VI): For athletes who have difficulty seeing or are blind. They often ski with a guide.
- Standing Physical Disability: For athletes who can stand but have a physical impairment.
- Sitting Physical Disability: For athletes who compete in a sit-ski.
Medal Winners
Many talented athletes won medals in the biathlon events. For example, Vitaliy Lukyanenko from Ukraine and Yury Holub from Belarus were strong competitors in the men's vision impaired races. Benjamin Daviet from France and Mark Arendz from Canada also performed very well in the standing events.
In the women's races, Mikhalina Lysova (NPA) and Oksana Shyshkova from Ukraine won multiple medals in the vision impaired category. Ekaterina Rumyantseva (NPA) and Anna Milenina (NPA) were top athletes in the standing events. Kendall Gretsch and Andrea Eskau from Germany showed great skill in the sitting competitions.
Overall Medal Table
This table shows which countries won the most medals in biathlon at the 2018 Winter Paralympics.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NPA | 5 | 5 | 1 | 11 |
| 2 |  Ukraine |
4 | 5 | 5 | 14 |
| 3 |  Germany |
3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 4 |  United States |
2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| 5 |  France |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 |  Belarus |
1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 |  Canada |
1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 8 |  Norway |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 18 | 18 | 18 | 54 |
See also
In Spanish: Anexo:Biatlón en los Juegos Paralímpicos de Pieonchang 2018 para niños
