S. Korean Paralympic medal contender finishes 5th in biathlon

By Joo Kyung-don

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, March 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Nordic para skier Sin Eui-hyun finished fifth in the men's 7.5-kilometer sitting biathlon event at the PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games Saturday.

Sin clocked 24 minutes, 19.9 seconds to finish fifth among 20 competitors at Alpensia Biathlon Centre in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul. Sin's compatriot Lee Jeong-min was 11th at 26:02.5.

Sin was the interim leader in the first intermediate, but he later missed two shots to fall behind.

Daniel Cnossen of the United States won the event with a time of 23:49.7, followed by Dzmitry Loban of Belarus at 23:57.0 and Collin Cameron of Canada at 23:59.0.

Sin was looking to become the first South Korean to win a gold medal at the Winter Paralympics. South Korea has won only two silver medals at the Winter Paralympics: alpine skier Han Sang-min at Salt Lake City 2002 and the wheelchair curling team at Vancouver 2010.

Sin, 37, lost his legs in a car accident in 2006 just a day before his college graduation. He got into sports by playing wheelchair basketball in 2009 and also played para ice hockey in the past.

kdon@yna.co.kr
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