Kim Yoon-ji makes history with Korea's first Winter Paralympics women's gold

South Korea’s Kim Yoon-ji, 19, capped a historic performance at the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo with four medals in quad events, including the country’s first-ever gold in a Winter Paralympics women’s event. The Korea Press, citing officials, noted the achievement as remarkable for a first Olympic appearance.

Kim won gold on the 8th in the para-biathlon, women’s seated sprint over 12.5 kilometers, becoming Korea’s first female Winter Paralympics gold medalist. Her gold came in a discipline that combines skiing with rifle shooting, adapted for wheelchair athletes.

In the days that followed, she added three silver medals. She earned silver in the biathlon sprint pursuit seated the day after her gold, then silver in the cross-country sprint on the 10th, and silver again in the cross-country interval start on the 11th. Her four-medal haul thus includes one gold and three silvers.

South Korea’s president at the time, Lee Jae-myung, issued congratulations on the 14th, praising Kim for setting a new record for the most medals won by an athlete in a single event and urging her to maintain peak form in the 20-kilometer cross-country interval start still to come.

The president also lauded members of the wheelchair curling mixed four team, who finished fourth in their event, underscoring the breadth of Korea’s Paralympic program across multiple sports.

For international readers, Kim’s success highlights Korea’s growing emphasis on Paralympic sport and its ability to produce world-class athletes across adaptive winter disciplines. The performances also underscore potential avenues for collaboration with U.S. programs in adaptive-sport technology, coaching exchanges, and talent development, as well as broader implications for global supply chains and markets in specialized equipment and support services for Paralympic athletes.