Snowboarding at the 2018 Winter Paralympics facts for kids

The snowboard events at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games were super exciting! Athletes from all over the world gathered to compete in these cool events. They took place on March 12 and March 16, 2018, at a place called Bokwang Phoenix Park.

History of Paralympic Snowboarding

Snowboarding officially became a medal sport at the Paralympic Games for the first time in 2018! Before this, at the previous Games, snowboarding was part of the para-alpine skiing events. It's awesome that it now has its own special place!

Snowboarding Events and Categories

There were two main types of snowboarding races at the Paralympics:

• Snowboard Cross: Imagine a race where snowboarders go head-to-head on a course filled with fun obstacles! They zoom through banked turns, over rollers, and even off jumps. It's a fast and thrilling race to the finish line.
• Banked Slalom: In this event, snowboarders race against the clock. They have to weave their way through a course marked by gates, making quick turns down the slope. The goal is to get the fastest time possible!

Athletes compete in different categories based on their physical abilities. This makes sure the competition is fair for everyone. The categories are:

• SB-UL: This is for athletes who have challenges with their upper body.
• SB-LL1: This is for athletes with more significant challenges in their lower body.
• SB-LL2: This is for athletes with less significant challenges in their lower body.

In total, ten gold medals were up for grabs! These included medals for men and women in both Snowboard Cross (SBX) and Banked Slalom (BSL) across the different disability categories.

Medal Winners

Here's a look at which countries won medals in snowboarding at the 2018 Winter Paralympics:

Medal Table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	5	5	3	13
2	Netherlands (NED)	2	2	1	5
3	Australia (AUS)	1	0	1	2
	Finland (FIN)	1	0	1	2
	Japan (JPN)	1	0	1	2
6	France (FRA)	0	1	1	2
7	Austria (AUT)	0	1	0	1
	Italy (ITA)	0	1	0	1
9	Croatia (CRO)	0	0	1	1
	Spain (ESP)	0	0	1	1
Totals (10 entries)		10	10	10	30

Women's Events

Event	Class	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Banked slalom details	SB-LL1	Brenna Huckaby  United States	56.17	Cécile Hernandez  France	56.53	Amy Purdy  United States	1:05.40
	SB-LL2	Bibian Mentel-Spee  Netherlands	56.94	Brittani Coury  United States	59.87	Lisa Bunschoten  Netherlands	1:00.04
Snowboard cross details	SB-LL1	Brenna Huckaby  United States		Amy Purdy  United States		Cécile Hernandez  France
	SB-LL2	Bibian Mentel-Spee  Netherlands		Lisa Bunschoten  Netherlands		Astrid Fina Paredes  Spain

Men's Events

Event	Class	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Banked slalom details	SB-LL1	Noah Elliott  United States	51.90	Mike Schultz  United States	53.42	Bruno Bošnjak  Croatia	54.08
	SB-LL2	Gurimu Narita  Japan	48.68	Evan Strong  United States	49.20	Matti Suur-Hamari  Finland	49.51
	SB-UL	Mike Minor  United States	50.77	Patrick Mayrhofer  Austria	51.36	Simon Patmore  Australia	51.99
Snowboard cross details	SB-LL1	Mike Schultz  United States		Chris Vos  Netherlands		Noah Elliott  United States
	SB-LL2	Matti Suur-Hamari  Finland		Keith Gabel  United States		Gurimu Narita  Japan
	SB-UL	Simon Patmore  Australia		Manuel Pozzerle  Italy		Mike Minor  United States

See also

• In Spanish: Anexo:Snowboard en los Juegos Paralímpicos de Pieonchang 2018 para niños