South Korea’s para biathlete Kim Yun-ji won a gold medal Sunday in the women’s sitting biathlon sprint at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics, becoming the first Korean female athlete to claim gold at the Winter Paralympics.
Kim, 19, finished the women’s sitting 12.5 kilometer sprint in 38 minutes and 0.1 seconds at the Tesero Cross-Country Stadium in Italy, beating Anja Wicker of Germany to take the top spot on the podium.
The victory marks the first individual gold medal by a South Korean woman in Winter Paralympics history, setting a new milestone for the country’s para winter sports.
Kim’s triumph is also South Korea’s first gold medal at the Winter Paralympics in eight years, since Shin Eui-hyun won gold in cross-country skiing at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.
It also represents the country’s first gold medal at a Winter Paralympics held overseas, as the 2018 Games were hosted in South Korea.
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