Germany at the 2018 Winter Paralympics

**Germany** sent people to compete at the **2018 Winter Paralympics** in Pyeongchang, South Korea. There were 19 people from Germany competing in South Korea. 10 were women and 9 were men.  They competed in  para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing and wheelchair curling. Germany tried to go to the Winter Paralympics in sledge hockey.  The team needed to win some competitions.  Because they lost, they could not go to South Korea. Sports leaders from Germany were not happy Russia was allowed to compete at the Games. Para-Nordic skier  Andrea Eskau went to her sixth Paralympic Games in 2018.

## Team

There were 19 people from Germany competing in South Korea.  They are competing in para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing and wheelchair curling. The team has 10 women and 9 men. There were 9 people going to their first Paralympic Games. The team was named by the German Disabled Sports Association 38 days before the Games started. The Chef-de-Mission was Karl Quade. People thought Germany should win a lot of medals at the 2018 Winter Paralympics.  They thought this because Germany sent 13 people to the 2014 Winter Paralympics.  These 13 people won 15 total medals.

Germany tried to go to the Winter Paralympics in sledge hockey.  The team needed to win some competitions.  Because they lost them, they could not go to South Korea.

The table below contains the list of members of people (called "Team Germany") that will be participating in the 2018 Games.
|Name|Sport|Gender|Classification|Events|ref|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Andrea Eskau|para-Nordic skiing|female||||
|Martin Fleig|para-Nordic skiing|male|LW11.5|biathlon||
|Clara Klug|para-Nordic skiing|female||||
|Anna Schaffelhuber|para-alpine skiing|female||||
|Anja Wicker|para-Nordic skiing|female|LW10.5|biathlon||

## Medalists

|colspan="6"|Multiple medalists|||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**Name**|**Sport**|bgcolor="#F7F6A8"||bgcolor="#DCE5E5"||bgcolor="#FFDAB9"||**Total**||
|Anna Schaffelhuber|rowspan="2"|Alpine skiing|bgcolor="#F7F6A8"|2|bgcolor="#DCE5E5"|0|bgcolor="#FFDAB9"|0|**2**|
|Andrea Rothfuss|bgcolor="#F7F6A8"|0|bgcolor="#DCE5E5"|2|bgcolor="#FFDAB9"|0|**2**|||
|Medal|Name|Sport|Event|Date|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Anna Schaffelhuber|Alpine skiing|Women's downhill, sitting|10 March|
||Anna Schaffelhuber|Alpine skiing|Women's super-G, sitting|11 March|
||Andrea Rothfuss|Alpine skiing|Women's downhill, standing|10 March|
||Andrea Rothfuss|Alpine skiing|Women's super-G, standing|11 March|
||Andrea Eskau|Cross-country skiing|Women's 12 km, sitting|11 March|

## Doping

Before the 2018 Winter Paralympics, German Disabled Sports Association President Julius Beucher and Chef-de-Mission was Karl Quade were not happy.  The International Paralympic Committee said some Russians could go to South Korea to compete. Beucher and Quade did not like this.  They questioned if the sportspeople from Russia were "clean".  They wanted a Winter Paralympics where there was no doping.

### Skiers

Anna Schaffelhuber is one of the best people for Germany at the Winter Paralympics.  She competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics. She won 5 gold medals in 5 races.  She goes to Pyeongchang looking to defend her crown.

### Schedule and training

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 will race 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.

### Results

Marie Bochet from France won gold in the women's downhill standing.  Andrea Rothfuss from Germany won silver.  Mollie Jepsen from Canada won bronze. Anna Schaffelhuber of Germany won gold in the women's downhill sitting race.  Momoka Murakoa of Japan won silver.  Laurie Stephens of the United States won bronze.  In the women's Super-G standing race, Marie Bochet of France won gold, Andrea Rothfuss of Germany won silver, and Alana Ramsay of Canada 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.
- Men
|rowspan="2"|Athlete|rowspan="2"|Class|rowspan="2"|Event|colspan="2"|Run 1|colspan="2"|Run 2|colspan="2"|Total|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="2"|Georg Kreiter|rowspan="2"|LW10-1|Downhill, sitting|colspan=4|align="center"|1:28.23|align="center"|10|||
|Super-G, sitting|colspan=4|colspan="2" align="center"|DNF|||||||||
|rowspan="2"|Thomas Nolte|rowspan="2"|LW11|Downhill, sitting|colspan=4|align="center"|1:34.27|align="center"|20|||
|Super-G, sitting|colspan=4|align="center"|1:35.40|align="center"|21|||||||
- Women
|rowspan="2"|Athlete|rowspan="2"|Class|rowspan="2"|Event|colspan="2"|Run 1|colspan="2"|Run 2|colspan="2"|Total|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="2"|Anna-Lena Forster|rowspan="2"|LW12-1|Downhill, sitting|colspan=4|colspan="2" align="center"|DNF|||||
|Super-G, sitting|colspan=4|align="center"|1:36.26|align="center"|4|||||||
|rowspan="2"|Noemi Ewa Ristau|rowspan="2"|B2|Downhill, visually impaired|colspan=4|align="center"|1:33.33|align="center"|4|||
|Super-G, visually impaired|colspan=4|align="center"|1:39.09|align="center"|7|||||||
|rowspan="2"|**Andrea Rothfuss**|rowspan="2"|LW6/8-2|Downhill, standing|colspan=4|align="center"|1:32.53|align="center"||||
|Super-G, standing|colspan=4|align="center"|1:33.10|align="center"||||||||
|rowspan="2"|**Anna Schaffelhuber**|rowspan="2"|LW10-2|Downhill, sitting|colspan=4|align="center"|1:33.26|align="center"||||
|Super-G, sitting|colspan=4|align="center"|1:34.76|align="center"||||||||

### Skiers

Martin Fleig and Anja Wicker both were members of the Germany team at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi.  Before the start of the 2018 Games, people thought they could win medals.  Wicker won 2 medals in biathlon at earlier Paralympic Games.  Clara Klug is blind. Her first Paralympic Games were in 2018. Before they left for Pyeongchang, Wicker gave Klug advice about the Paralympics.

Before South Korea, Andrea Eskau went to 5 Paralympic Games.  These were the 2008 and 2012 Summer Paralympics for cycling, and the 2006, 2010, 2014 Winter Paralympics for para-Nordic skiing.

### Schedule and results

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.

#### Biathlon

- Men
|rowspan="2"|Athlete|rowspan="2"|Class|rowspan="2"|Event|colspan="4"|Final||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Alexander Ehler|LW4|7.5 km, standing|align="center"|0+0|align="center"|19:52.0|align="center"|19:16.2|align="center"|5|
|Martin Fleig|LW11.5|7.5 km, sitting|align="center"|0+1|align="center"|25:43.0|align="center"|24:41.3|align="center"|6|
|Steffen Lehmker|LW8|7.5 km, standing|align="center"|1+0|align="center"|21:44.9|align="center"|20:52.7|align="center"|10|
|Nico Messinger|B2|7.5 km, visually impaired|align="center"|1+0|align="center"|22:58.0|align="center"|22:44.2|align="center"|9|
- Women
|rowspan="2"|Athlete|rowspan="2"|Class|rowspan="2"|Event|colspan="4"|Final||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Andrea Eskau|LW11|6 km, sitting|align="center"|0+0|align="center"|24:33.1|align="center"|23:04.7|align="center"|6|
|Vivian Hösch|B1|6 km, visually impaired|align="center"|1+0|align="center"|24:48.7|align="center"|21:50.1|align="center"|7|
|Clara Klug|B1|6 km, visually impaired|align="center"|0+1|align="center"|24:32.4|align="center"|21:35.7|align="center"|6|
|Anja Wicker|LW10.5|6 km, sitting|align="center"|0+1|align="center"|27:37.5|align="center"|24:51.8|align="center"|9|

#### Cross country skiing

- Men
|rowspan="2"|Athlete|rowspan="2"|Class|rowspan="2"|Event|colspan="3"|Qualification|colspan="3"|Semifinal|colspan="3"|Final|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Alexander Ehler|LW4|20 km, standing|align="center"||align="center"||align="center"|||||
|Steffen Lehmker|LW8|20 km, standing|align="center"||align="center"||align="center"|||||

- Women
In cross country skiing's women's 12 km sitting race, Kendall Gretsch of the United States won gold, Andrea Eskau of Germany won silver, and Oksana Masters of the United States won bronze.
|rowspan="2"|Athlete|rowspan="2"|Class|rowspan="2"|Event|colspan="3"|Final||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**Andrea Eskau**|LW11|12 km, sitting|align="center"|41:16.9|align="center"|38:48.3|align="center"||

## Wheelchair curling

The team starts playing on 10 March.  They play Sweden on 13 March.

|rowspan="2"|Team|colspan="12"|Group stage|Tiebreaker|Semifinal|colspan="2"|Final /|||||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="left"||NPA **W** 9–4|USA **W** 6–4|CHN|SVK|KOR|SWE|NOR|GBR|SUI|CAN|FIN||||||