Pyeongchang Paralympics start, eight Poles set to compete
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
09.03.2018 13:06
Eight Poles are set to compete in the Pyeongchang Paralympic Winter Games which started in South Korea on Friday.
Flag bearers enter with the South Korean flag during the opening ceremony of the XII Paralympic Winter Games in the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium. Photo: EPA/SIMON BRUTY/OIS/IOC
Assisting the eight contenders will be three helpers, who will guide athletes with sight problems. The guides will also receive a medal if the athletes they are helping win a place on the podium.
Among Poland’s hopes is Alpine skier Igor Sikorski, 28, who broke his spine in a fall.
The Paralympics run until March 18. Medals are up for grabs in six disciplines: Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, biathlon, hockey, and wheelchair curling. Poles will be competing in the first four disciplines.
The Poles kick off their Olympic campaign on Saturday, competing in Alpine skiing and the biathlon.
Medal hopes
Polish officials are eyeing two medals. "Medals at Winter Games are harder to win as there has been a tendency at the Paralympics to reduce the number of individual events, compressing them into groups,” said Łukasz Szeliga, president of the Polish Paralympic Committee.
Poland has won 44 medals in total in Paralympic Winter Games: 11 golds, six silvers and 27 bronzes.
At the last winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, Poles failed to come away with any medals.
At the winter Olympics that ended in Pyeongchang last month, Poland won two medals, placing it 20th in the medals table.
Polish ski jumping star Kamil Stoch won the men's Large Hill individual event, while Poland took the bronze in the men's ski jumping team competition.
(pk/gs)
Source: PAP/IAR