United States at the 2018 Winter Paralympics

The **United States** sent people to compete at the **2018 Winter Paralympics** in Pyeongchang, South Korea.  The team is competing in para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing, para-snowboarding, sledge hockey and wheelchair curling.  It has 63 people.

The World Para Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals took place in Kimberly, British Columbia in February 2018. The event was the last one used to decide who would represent the United States at the 2018 Games. The team to go was announced on 20 February 2018. In the men's downhill sitting race, Andrew Kurka of the United States won gold.  He also won a silver in the men's Super-G sitting race.

The last date that countries could nominate people for their para-Nordic skiing teams at the 2018 Games was 23 February 2018. Kendall Gretsch won two gold medals in the first two days of competition.  One was in biathlon's women's 6&nbsp;km race.  The other was in cross country skiing's women's 12&nbsp;km sitting race. Daniel Cnossen won two medals in the first two days of competition.  His first was a gold in the men's 7.5&nbsp;km sitting biathlon race.  His second was a silver in cross country skiing's men's 15&nbsp;km sitting race.

The World Para Snowboard World Cup Finals in Big White, British Columbia took place in February 2018.  The event was the final one used to decide who would represent the United States at the 2018 Games.  On February 20, the names of the U.S. Paralympic Snowboarding Team were made public.

The USA finished in the first four at the 2017 Sledge Hockey World Championships.  This was why they could compete at the 2018 Winter Paralympics. The United States, South Korea, the Czech Republic and Japan were in Group B for the sledge hockey competition.

Before the Games started, American wheelchair curlers had a few important dates in preparation for the Games.  These included the U.S. Open in Utica, New York  in December 2017, the Kisakallio Cup in Kisakallio, Finland in January 2018, and Sochi Open in January 2018.  They started play on 10 March.

## Team 
The country has the largest team among all nations.  It has 63 people. New Zealand, Sweden and the United States were the first countries to name people to their teams. The people won their places by November 2017.

The table below contains the list of members of people (called "Team USA") that will be participating in the 2018 Games.

## Medalists 
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## Para-alpine skiing 
### Going to the Games 
The World Para Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals took place in Kimberly, British Columbia in February 2018. The event was the last one used to decide who would represent the United States at the 2018 Games. 19 February 2018 was the deadline for American alpine skiers to get 2017-18 season race points in at least one race to be eligible to represent the United States at the Paralympic Games.  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
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.

; Men

; Women

## Para-Nordic skiing 
### Qualification 
In December 2017, the World Para Nordic Skiing World Cup took place in Canmore, Alberta.  The World Para Nordic Skiing World Cup in Oberried, Germany took place in January 2018. On 12 March, the 15&nbsp;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.

#### Cross country skiing 
; Men
In cross country skiing's men's 15&nbsp;km sitting race, Maksym Yarovyi of Ukraine won gold, Daniel Cnossen of the United States won silver, and Sin Eui Hyun won bronze.

; Women
In cross country skiing's women's 12&nbsp;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. To be eligible to represent the United States at the Paralympic Games, American snowboarders had to get season race points in at least one race in the 2017-18 season. The deadline to get the points was 19 February 2018. 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.  They went to South Korea after winning a gold medal in sledge hockey at the 2014 Winter Paralympics.

### Before the Games 
The United States went to the 2018 Winter Paralympics looking to win their third consecutive Paralympic gold, having claimed gold at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Paralympics. Canada was thought to be their biggest competitor.  They had won three consecutive gold medals at the World Championships, with their most recent gold at the 2017 World Championships A-Pool. They also played in the 2018 Border Series in Buffalo, New York and Pt. Colborne, Ontario in February 2018.

Joe Misiewicz will be competing at his first Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang as a 29-year-old. When he was with the 1st Battalion 5th Marines in Afghanistan, he was injured.  This happened during a patrol, when his vehicle hit an improvised explosive devise. Because of injury, he is a double above-knee amputee. They played against Japan on 10 March.  They play against the Czech Republic on 11 March.

They started playing on 10 March. They played against Sweden on 11 March.

## References