Kim Yun-ji, the 19-year-old "iron girl," claimed gold in the final race of the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Paralympics, rewriting Korean Olympic history. Her performance propelled the Korean delegation to its best-ever Paralympic result.
Kim crossed the finish line first in the women's 20km cross-country skiing interval start sitting event at Tesero Cross-Country Stadium in Italy on March 15, clocking 58 minutes and 23.3 seconds.
The victory brought her total medal haul at these Games to five—two gold and three silver. Competing in her first Paralympics, Kim set a new record for the most medals won by a Korean athlete at a single Olympic or Paralympic Games, summer or winter. The previous record stood at four medals. She also became the first Korean athlete to win two gold medals at a single Winter Paralympics.
Kim burst onto the scene on March 8, capturing Korea's first-ever women's Winter Paralympic gold in the biathlon women's individual 12.5km event. She added three silver medals in the cross-country skiing sprint on March 10, the interval start on March 11, and the biathlon women's sprint pursuit sitting on March 13. Her gold medal on the final day completed an unprecedented achievement.
The Korean delegation finished with seven medals in total—two gold, four silver, and one bronze—marking the nation's best Winter Paralympic performance in history.