15 National Paralympic Committees and the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation signed a letter expressing support for the National Paralympic Committee of Russia in August 2017.  The countries included Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Laos, Moldova, Mongolia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Montenegro, and South Korea.  They asked the IPC Governing Board to consider letting Russia compete at the 2018 Winter Paralympics.  The letter was signed weeks before the IPC Governing Board met in Abu Dhabi. In September 2017, this decision was reviewed and upheld. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) still had concerns about doping in Russian sport. All the conditions the IPC required of the Russians were not met.
Kazakhstan is not competing in sledge hockey in 2018. The country is preparing for the future. They want to compete in sledge hockey in the future. Kazakhstan created a program in early 2018. Toyota became a sponsor in October 2017.
Two years before the start of the Games, Kazakstan decided they wanted to win medals in South Korea. They started on two years of planning and training to accomplish this. The team spent nearly a year training in Germany before the South Korean hosted Games. They used snow tunnels during the summer months. This allowed them to train in winter conditions all year. During the summer, they also trained using bicycles. Because of sponsorship, many team members got new prostheses while in Germany. Kolyadin said of his new prosthetic, "They created a new prosthesis. When I got it, I tried it. Now I am accustomed to using it. I think I will win by using it in the race. It takes time to learn new technology. But there is 100% control - I like it." The team went to Russia for World Cup events. They did more training in Russia. They also went to a competition in Finland. The team returned to Almaty three weeks before the Games started. This was so they could do additional training.
The national team had about fifteen people. Only seven are going to South Korea. Their average age is from about 27 years old to 40 years old.
Japan at the 2018 Winter Paralympics
Japan sent people to compete at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The group from Japan was going to compete in para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing, para-snowboarding and sledge hockey.
There were three announcements with who would go to the 2018 Winter Games representing Japan. The second announcement was made on 8 February 2018. The last announcement was made on 18 February 2018. The last announcement said two male para-alpine skiers would be going to South Korea. The country has the third largest team among all nations. It has 38 people.
The table below contains the list of members of people (called "Team Japan") that will be participating in the 2018 Games.
Skiers had training runs for the downhill race on 7 March. Their practice runs in the downhill on 8 and 9 March were cancelled.
The first event on the para-alpine program was the downhill. It started on 10 March, running from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM. The second event on the program is Super-G. All skiers raced between 9:30 AM and 1:00 PM on 11 March. The super combined takes place on 13 March. The Super-G part of the event is in the morning. The slalom part is in the afternoon. The slalom event gets underway on 14 March and conclude on 15 March. Women and men both race during the same sessions in the morning. The afternoon sessions start with the women doing their second run. Then the men go.The last para-alpine skiing race of the 2018 Games is the giant slalom. It takes place on 17 - 18 March.  Men and women both race at the same time in the morning sessions.  Women race first in the afternoon sessions, with the men racing a half hour after they end.
Anna Schaffelhuber of Germany won gold in the women's downhill sitting race.  Momoka Muraoka of Japan won silver.  Laurie Stephens of the United States won bronze. In the men's downhill sitting race, Andrew Kurka of the United States won gold, Taiki Morri of Japan won silver and Corey Peters of New Zealand won bronze. In the women's Super-G sitting race, Anna Schaffelhuber of Germany won gold, Claudia Loesch of Austria won silver, and Momoka Muraoka of Japan won bronze.
Keiichi Sato competes in two sports: para-triathlon and para-Nordic skiing.  The first sport he did was para-Nordic skiing.  As a member of Team Japan, he went to the 2010 and 2014 Winter Paralympics.  After para-triathlon became a Paralympic sport, Sato decided to try it.  He then was part of Team Japan at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. He then went to the 2017 Triathlon World Championships.  After that, he stopped competing in para-triathlon.  He wanted to try to medal at the 2018 Winter Paralympics.  He thought he needed to focus on para-Nordic skiing to do that.
On 12 March, the 15 km race takes place, with standing and vision impaired women starting at 10:00 PM. Thee sprint classic qualification takes place on 14 March from 10:00 AM – 11:25 AM for both men and women in all classes. It is followed in the afternoon by the semifinals and finals.  The classic race takes place on 17 March. The standing and visually impaired women's race takes place from 10:00 AM - 12:30.
Atsushi Yamamoto is a track and field competitor.  He won a silver medal in the men's T42 long jump at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.  In November 2017, he went to the World Para Snowboard World Cup in Landgraaf, Netherlands.  The World Cup was his first para-snowboarding competition.  Also there was Daniel Wagner of Denmark.  Wagner won gold in the event which Yamamoto won silver.  Both men had decided to compete internationally in snowboarding during the same year.
The snowboard cross event starts on 12 March. It goesfrom 10:30 AM to 5:00 PM for all classes for both men and women. The slalom race is scheduled to take place on 16 March, going from 10:30 AM – 4:55 PM for men and women in all classes.
Japan's team has 17 men. Their coach is Kojin Nakakita.
Japan, Sweden and the Czech Republic were the last 3 teams that were able to go to the 2018 Games. They could go because of how they finished at the Qualification Tournament in October in Ostersund, Sweden in October 2017.
The United States, South Korea, the Czech Republic and Japan were in Group B for the sledge hockey competition. Japan plays against South Korea on 10 March. They play the Czech Republic on 13 March.
For the first time, the Paralympic Games will be live on television. The 2018 Games will be on NHK. People can watch on NHK General TV and NHK Educational TV channels. Some will be televised with a resolution of 8K. There are going to be 62 hours of live coverage.
Italy at the 2018 Winter Paralympics
Italy sent people to compete at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. They are competing in para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing, para-snowboarding and sledge hockey. Italy finished in the first four at the 2017 Sledge Hockey World Championships.  This was why they could compete in sledge hockey at the 2018 Winter Paralympics
The table below contains the list of members of people (called "Team Italy") that will be participating in the 2018 Games.
Giacomo Bertagnolli is blind.
17-year-old Giacomo Bertagnolli went to Slovenia in January 2018. She competed in the World Cup in Kranjska Gora. Giacomo won the 2017 Para Alpine World Championships in the super combined race.
Skiers had training runs for the downhill race on 7 March. Their practice runs in the downhill on 8 and 9 March were cancelled.