North Korea has started its national winter competitions, while its athletes will not participate in the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, since they failed to meet the qualification standards.
According to the state news agency KCNA, the 2026 National Winter Games opened on Wednesday at a sports village in Paektusan District, Samjiyon City, located in a mountainous area near the border with China.
Sports clubs connected to state institutions and large industrial centers participate in the games, and competitions take place in more than 50 disciplines within five winter sports. Among them are ice hockey, figure skating and skiing.
North Korea has not secured a single berth at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Italy, which open on Friday.
The country last participated in the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang, when it fielded 22 athletes in five sports.
That performance was also remembered for the rare diplomatic rapprochement with South Korea, including the formation of a joint women’s hockey team, according to Reuters.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Pyongyang significantly limited the international travel of athletes, and due to the decision not to send a delegation to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the International Olympic Committee suspended North Korea until the end of 2022.
This country achieved its greatest Olympic successes in skating disciplines. She won her first and only silver medal in 1964 in Innsbruck in speed skating for women, while bronze came in 1992 in Albertville in short track speed skating.
In recent years, the focus of North Korea’s performance has been pairs in figure skating, but their top pair failed to qualify for the final qualifying competition held in Beijing last September.
The choice of Samjiyon to host the Winter Games fits into Kim Jong Un’s broader strategy of developing the area around Mount Paektu, a region of great political importance that the authorities are promoting as a tourist zone.
According to KCNA, Kim also attended the opening of new luxury hotels in the area at the end of last year.
(Vijesti.ba)
