How the Winter Paralympics makes the competition fair

How the Winter Paralympics makes the competition fair

The Winter Paralympics is an amazing opportunity for disabled athletes to get a chance to represent their countries on the world stage.

There are a number of ways for winter athletes to compete depending on their impairment.

These are the ways in which the Winter Paralympic committee maintains its fairness to all athletes who compete at the winter Paralympics.

  1. Wheelchairs in curling

This is very similar to the able-bodied version of curling. However, in this sport the stone is delivered from a stationary wheelchair and a delivery stick is allowed whereas the able-

the use of wheelchairs in the Winter Paralympics makes curling fair

bodied athletes in the Winter Olympics slide the stone with their hand.

Teams are built up of 4 athletes and two teams play at once.

  1. Cross-country skiing

Here athletes race across a cross country track ranging from 2.5km to 20km. Athletes can compete on a sit-ski, a single ski and visually impaired athletes may have a sighted guide with them.

This was first seen in Sweden in 1976 winter Paralympic games.

Athletes can compete on sit-skis, Stood up or with a sighted guide depending on their disability
  1. Biathlon

This is the same as the Olympic version. However, the categories are split between standing, sitting and visually impaired competitors and the categories determine the length of the race.

The course at the Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics can be raced at 4km, 3.3km, 3km, 2.5km, 2km or 1.5km depending on categories and event.

Standing skiers can be split into up to 17 categories depending on their impairment
  1. Standing Skiers

Because of how diverse people’s disabilities can be, there are approximately 17 categories that standing skiers can be split up into.

For example, skiers with leg impairments skiers with arm impairments, skiers with combined impairments and visually impaired skiers are all categorised differently.