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Australia at the 2018 Winter Paralympics
IPC code	AUS
NPC	Australian Paralympic Committee
Website	www.paralympic.org.au
in PyeongChang, Korea
Competitors	15 in 2 sports
Flag bearers	Joany Badenhorst (Opening) Melissa Perrine (Closing)
Medals Ranked 15th	Gold 1 Silver 0 Bronze 3 Total 4
Winter Paralympics appearances (overview)
1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022

Australia sent a team of 12 athletes and three guides to the 2018 Winter Paralympics in PyeongChang, Korea. Australia finished 15th on the medal table and it was its fourth best medal performance at the Winter Paralympics.

Medallists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Simon Patmore	Snowboarding	Snowboard cross SB-UL	12 March
Bronze	Simon Patmore	Snowboarding	Snowboard banked SB-UL	16 March
Bronze	Melissa Perrine Guide: Christian Geiger	Alpine skiing	Super combined B & VI	13 March
Bronze	Melissa Perrine Guide: Christian Geiger	Alpine skiing	Giant slalom B & VI	14 March

Team Preparation

It was expected that the final Australian team would be between 10 and 12 athletes across two sports – para-alpine skiing and para-snowboard. There is the aim to finish in the top 15 nations on the medal table, as per the target set by the Australian Sports Commission’s Australia’s Winning Edge policy. The team will be missing previous Winter Paralympic Games medallists - Cameron Rahles-Rahbula, Toby Kane and Jessica Gallagher.

The Australian Paralympic Committee expects Mitchell Gourley, Melissa Perrine, Joany Badenhorst and Ben Tudhope to be medal contenders.

The Australian Sports Commission provided Ski and Snowboard Australia the following funding for Australia's Winter Paralympic high performance program: 2014/15 = $934,478: 2015/16 - $934,478; 2016/17 - $934,478; 2017/18 - $1,009,478

Administration

In March 2017, Nick Dean was appointed Chef de Mission. He previously served as Chef de Mission at the Lillehammer 1994, Nagano 1998 and Salt Lake City 2002 Games and was Deputy Chef de Mission for a further three Winter and two Summer Paralympic Games between 1992 and 2012.

Team

Mitchell Gourley and Joany Badenhorst were announced team co-captains in October 2017. On 20 February 2018, Australian Paralympic Committee announced a team of 13 athletes. Shaun Pianta and sighted guide Jeremy O'Sullivan were selected in the team on 6 March but Pianta will be required to pass a final fitness test on his injured right knee ahead of his Paralympic debut on March 14.

The final team of 12 athletes and three sighted guides is the largest Australian team to compete at a Winter Paralympic Games.

Joany Badenhorst was named the Opening Ceremony flag bearer, the first female Australian Winter Paralympian to be given this honour. Melissa Perrine was given the honour of the Closing Ceremony flag bearer due to her competing at three Winter Games and winning two bronze medals in PyeongChang.

Events

Alpine skiing

Women

Athlete	Event	Final				Date
		Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	Rank
Melissa Perrine / Christian Geiger (guide) B2	Downhill Visually Impaired			1:35.40	5	10 March
	Super-G visually impaired			1:36.96	5	11 March
	Super combined Visually Impaired	1:35.50 (6)	55.32 (1)	2:30.82		13 March
	Slalom Visually Impaired	56.74 (5)	58.33 (2)	1:55.07	4	18 March
	Giant slalom visually impaired	1:14.95 (3)	1:13.86 (2)	2:28.81		14 March
Victoria Pendergast LW12-1	Downhill sit-ski			1:44.14	4	10 March
	Super-G sit-ski			DNF	DNF	11 March
	Super combined super-G sit-ski	1:44.49(8)	DNS		DNS	13 March
	Giant slalom sit-ski	1:21.22 (9)	1:20.15 (8)	2:41.37	8	14 March

Men

Snowboarding

Women

Joany Badenhorst was injured in a training run just prior to the day of competition and was declared medically unfit to compete.

Men

Athlete	Event	Race 1		Race 2		1/8	Q/F	S/F	Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Position	Position	Position	Position
Simon Patmore SB-UL	Men's snowboard cross	1:01.76	3	1:02.45	4 Q	1Q	1Q	1Q
		Sean Pollard SB-UL	1:06.57	12	1:06.57	6Q	2	—
Ben Tudhope SB-LL2		1:03.74	12	1:00.64	5 Q	2	—

Men

Athlete	Event	Run 1		Run 2		Run 3		Best time
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Simon Patmore SB-UL	Men's snowboard banked	54.11	2	52.78	2	51.99	3	51.99
Sean Pollard SB-UL		57.11	6	53.84	3	55.39	7	53.84	5
Ben Tudhope SB-LL2		52.02	6	52.63	7	51.68	7	51.68	7

Media Coverage

Seven Network has an agreement with the Australian Paralympic Committee to provide coverage of Australia’s Winter Paralympic sport across Seven’s television, digital and print media assets to bring the stories of Australia’s winter Paralympic athletes to more Australians than ever before. Coverage will include a daily highlights show to be broadcast on 7MATE every morning, with an encore highlights on 7TWO and Channel 7 in the evening. It is the first time a commercial television network has covered Australian athletes at the Winter Paralympics. During the Games, Channel Seven encountered criticism from former Paralympians and current athletes due to it limiting its coverage of the nine-day event to a one-hour highlights show the day after competition for Australian audiences.

See also

• Images of Australian Team at the 2018 Winter Paralympics

References

1. ^ "Dean appointed as the 2018 Chef de Mission". Australian Paralympic Committee website. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
2. "Investment Allocation 2014/15" (PDF). Australian Sports Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
3. "Investment allocation 2015-16" (PDF). Australian Sports Commission website. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
4. "Investment allocation 2016-17" (PDF). Australian Sports Commission website. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
5. "Investment Allocation 2017/18" (PDF). Australian Sports Commission website. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
6. Media Guide PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games (PDF). Sydney: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
7. "2018 Australian Paralympic Team Co-captains announced". Australian Paralympic Committee website. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
8. "Australian Paralympic Winter Team for PyeongChang 2018 announced". Australian Paralympic Committee website. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
9. ^ "Pianta joins Australian Paralympic Winter Team ready to make history". Australian Paralympic Committee website. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
10. "Badenhorst becomes first female Australian Paralympic Winter Flag Bearer". Australian Paralympic Committee website. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
11. "Dual Paralympic bronze medallist Perrine named as Closing Ceremony flag bearer". Australian Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
12. "Winter Paralympics: Australian para-snowboarder Joany Badenhorst crashes in training, ruled out of Games". ABC News. 11 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
13. "Seven Network to become first Australian commercial broadcaster of the Paralympic Winter Games". Australian Paralympic Committee website. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
14. Spits, Scott (14 March 2018). "'They should be all over the media right now': Seven taken to task for Paralympics coverage". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 March 2018.

External links

• APC 2018 Winter Games Media Guide
• PyeongChang Official website
• International Paralympic Committee PyeongChang website

• Australia
• Sports

• Nations at the 2018 Winter Paralympics
• Australia at the Paralympics
• 2018 in Australian sport