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| Para Nordic skier Sin Eui-hyun screams in joy after winning a gold medal in the men's 7.5-kilometer sitting cross-country skiing event at Alpensia Biathlon Centre in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, Saturday. / Yonhap |
Para Nordic skier Sin Eui-hyun earned South Korea's first gold at a Winter Paralympic Games after winning the men's cross-country skiing event at PyeongChang 2018 on Saturday.
Sin finished first among 34 contestants at Alpensia Biathlon Centre in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, with a time of 22 minutes, 28.4 seconds to take the gold medal in the men's 7.5-kilometer sitting cross-country skiing event.
This is the first time that South Korea took gold at the Winter Paralympic Games since the country made its debut at Albertville 1992. Before Sin's gold, South Korea won two silvers and one bronze.
It's also Sin's second medal at the PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games. He previously won bronze in the men's 15km sitting cross-country skiing last Sunday.
Daniel Cnossen of the United States was second at 22:33.7, followed by Maksym Yarovyi of Ukraine at 22:39.9.
Sin, who was the 33rd skier to compete, was second at the first intermediate stop at 0.71 km but moved up to first place from the next check point at 2.41 km and didn't give up the lead from there. Meanwhile, another South Korean competitor, Lee Jeong-min, finished eighth at 23:37.3.
Sin, 37, lost his legs in a car accident in 2006 just a day before his college graduation. He got into sports by playing wheelchair basketball in 2009 and also played para ice hockey in the past. (Yonhap)
