[Sports Seoul | Tesero — Kim Dong-young] Four years after leaving without a medal, South Korea has wiped that slate clean. On Day 3 of the 2026 Milan–Cortina Winter Paralympics, the team hit its target and then some. The mood in the camp is buoyant — and there could be more to come. Anything beyond the goal is a bonus.
The Games opened officially on March 6 (local time). Ahead of competition, the Korea Paralympic Committee set a modest target: one gold and one bronze. The medal push began in earnest on March 7, the day after the opening ceremony.
The breakthrough came on March 8 — and it arrived in pairs. Kim Yun-ji, 20, of BDH Paras, claimed gold in the women’s sitting 12.5 km biathlon. It’s only South Korea’s second-ever Winter Paralympic gold and the first by a female athlete — a milestone for the program.
A day earlier, Kim had finished fourth in the women’s sitting 7.5 km biathlon after a missed shot. She left no room for error this time, shooting clean and delivering a near-perfect race to take the top spot.
The same day delivered another historic moment: Lee Je-hyuk, 29, riding for CJ Logistics, took bronze in the men’s snowboard cross SB-LL2 (lower-limb impairment).
Lee arrived at Milan–Cortina without the spotlight. He competed in Beijing 2022 but exited in the early rounds. He dedicated himself to coming back stronger.
He battled through the early heats, advanced from the quarterfinals and semis, and made the final. Trailing in fourth late in the race, Lee staged a decisive move and survived a crash involving Canada’s Alex Massie, who had been third. Massie went down; Lee held his line, moved up to third and crossed the line to secure bronze.
The podium in snowboard marks South Korea’s first-ever Paralympic medal in the sport. Lee’s celebration was loud and emotional — a release of four hard years of work.
For the Korea Paralympic Committee and the national team, it was an especially sweet day: they met their early target within the first days of competition, and an unexpected medal in snowboarding made the achievement even more satisfying.
It’s not over. Kim Yun-ji still has cross-country events on her schedule and is a strong medal candidate there. South Korea also fields teams in wheelchair curling mixed doubles and the mixed team event — several more podium chances remain.
South Korea’s best single-Games Winter Paralympic haul remains three medals — one gold and two bronzes at PyeongChang 2018. The team left Beijing 2022 empty-handed and took a public hit. At Milan–Cortina 2026, they’ve already begun a solid recovery and could even surpass their PyeongChang result. raining99@sportsseoul.com
