New Zealand at the 2018 Winter Paralympics

Sports and athletes

The New Zealand delegation focused on two disciplines: para-alpine skiing and para-snowboarding. In para-alpine skiing athletes race in traditional alpine formats while classified into sitting, standing and visually impaired categories; para-snowboarders compete in snowboard cross and banked slalom tailored to lower-limb and other impairments. The team combined athletes with prior Paralympic experience and newer internationals, aiming to build depth for future Games.

New Zealand’s entry included competitors prepared through national selection processes and high-performance programs that emphasize technical skiing, conditioning and adaptive equipment. Delegation staff typically include coaches, technicians and support personnel to manage prosthetics, sit-skis and other sport-specific gear.

Events, format and classifications

• Para-alpine events: downhill, super‑G, giant slalom, slalom and combined, with classifications based on type and degree of impairment.
• Para-snowboard events: banked slalom and snowboard cross, using time-trial and head-to-head formats adapted to athlete classifications.

Detailed rules and athlete categories can be found via international Paralympic sport resources; classification ensures fair competition by grouping athletes with comparable functional ability.

The 2018 Games offered New Zealand athletes international competition experience and exposure, contributing to the development of winter para-sport at home. Coverage and official reports from the Games documented individual runs and results while national programs used the outcomes to plan training toward subsequent world championships and Paralympic cycles.

For broader context on the team, sport rules and event schedules see links on national and event pages for para-alpine skiing and para-snowboarding: para-alpine skiing and para-snowboarding.