South Korea Achieves Best-Ever Winter Paralympics Results... Yoonji Kim Becomes Most Decorated Medalist

The South Korean Paralympic team added two more silver medals on the 11th (local time) at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics, once again setting a new all-time record for its best performance. Yoonji Kim became the most decorated South Korean athlete in Winter Paralympics history, winning a total of three medals: one gold and two silver.

On this day, Yoonji Kim earned another silver medal in the women's 10 km interval start cross-country skiing event held at the Tesero Cross-Country Stadium in Italy, finishing with a time of 26 minutes 51.6 seconds.

Previously, on the 8th, Yoonji Kim became the first Korean female athlete ever to win a gold medal at the Winter Paralympics by taking gold in the women's 12.5 km individual biathlon. She followed this with a silver medal in the women's seated cross-country sprint on the 10th.

Yunji Kim is delighted after winning the silver medal in the women's 10km interval start cross-country skiing event at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics held on the 11th (local time) at Tesero Cross-Country Stadium in Italy. Photo by Yonhap News

Having won one gold and two silver medals in this tournament alone, Yoonji Kim has now surpassed Shin Euihyun, who earned one gold and one bronze at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, to become the most decorated South Korean medalist in Winter Paralympics history.

On the same day, the wheelchair curling mixed doubles team of Hyejin Baek and Yongseok Lee also added a silver medal. Baek and Lee narrowly lost 7-9 in an extra end against China's Meng Wang and Jinqiao Yang in the final. Although they missed out on gold, South Korea’s wheelchair curling team claimed its second Paralympic medal 16 years after winning silver in the mixed fours at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

As of now, South Korea has collected a total of one gold, three silver, and one bronze medal at this tournament. This result not only surpassed the nation’s previous best performance at the 2018 PyeongChang Games (one gold, two bronze), which was already exceeded as of the previous day with one gold, one silver, and one bronze, but has further raised the record.

Currently ranked 15th overall, South Korea is now solidifying its position within its target of finishing in the top 20.

Yoonji Kim will be aiming for additional medals in the women's 20 km interval start cross-country skiing and biathlon sprint pursuit events.

The mixed fours wheelchair curling team lost 2-9 to the United States in the seventh preliminary round on this day, but with a preliminary record of four wins and three losses, is currently in fourth place. Depending on the results of the remaining two games—against Canada on the 12th and Italy on the 13th—the team could secure a spot in the semifinals, which is given to the top four teams.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.