The Winter Paralympics closed on Sunday with a bright and colourful ceremony

The 2018 Winter Paralympics have closed with a spectacular ceremony in Pyeongchang.

Skier Menna Fitzpatrick and her guide Jen Kehoe, who won Britain's only gold of the Games, led the team into the ceremony in South Korea.

The pair were given the honour after they claimed victory earlier on Sunday in the visually-impaired slalom to become GB's most successful Winter Paralympians of all time, thanks to their haul of one gold medal, two silvers and a bronze.

Millie Knight and guide Brett Wild also finished their Games on a high with bronze in the slalom to add to their two silvers from the downhill and super-G.

It meant the team hit their UK Sport medal target of at least seven medals for their biggest winter medal haul since 1984 and since Lottery funding was introduced in the 1990s.

Media playback is not supported on this device Winter Paralympics: Britons Menna Fitzpatrick & Jen Kehoe win slalom gold

How were the Games received in South Korea?

Beforehand, there were concerns about ticket sales but the locals took the Games to their hearts.

The opening ceremony was attended by many spectators with disabilities and accessibility seemed well thought out in the majority of places.

As there was no alpine skiing at the Alpensia resort, which hosted the Olympic skiing and is located near the Olympic Stadium, the Games lacked a Paralympic park atmosphere.

Sin Eui-hyun lost his legs in a car accident in 2006

But the crowds at the Jeongseon resort, about a 30-minute bus trip from the Olympic Stadium, were loud and colourful, particularly for the snowboarding.

And the Gangneung coastal venues for Para-ice hockey and wheelchair curling appeared to attract more families and school children.

Overall, more than 343,000 tickets were sold, which was 16,000 more than for Sochi in 2014, 100,000 more than Vancouver 2010 and more than double the total sold for Torino 2006.

One of the biggest cheers was saved for cross-country skier Sin Eui-hyun, who won South Korea's first ever Winter Paralympic gold after claiming the men's 7.5km seated race on the penultimate day of competition.

How did ParalympicsGB do?

The 17-strong British team had a target of between six and 12 medals from UK Sport, with an ambition of seven.

And the final day performances by Fitzpatrick and Knight ensured they reached seven.

While the teenage duo and their guides shone, there were disappointments. The wheelchair curlers made a positive start to their round-robin campaign, beating defending champions Canada and world champions Norway, but they lost five of their last six games and missed out on the knockout stages.

Hopes had also been high for a medal for the snowboarders with GB making its debut in the event, but the trio of Owen Pick, Ben Moore and James Barnes-Miller failed to add to the tally.

The curlers won bronze four years ago but failed to win a medal this time

But having reached their medal target, chef de mission Penny Briscoe remained positive.

"It is really satisfying to hit the medal target but we have had 16 top-eight performances, which is an improvement on Sochi," she told BBC Sport.

"I'm really proud of the whole group. We knew there was multi-medal potential within the skiing team. They have had tough times with injuries, but it has been a tremendous team performance.

"We really felt and hoped the potential was there to win on ice and snow and moving into the [2022] Beijing cycle, we hope the strength on the snow will continue, the curlers will be backed up by Para-bobsleigh, which will be making its debut, and hopefully in four years' time, we will have have more athletes in more events."

Who topped the medal table?

Team USA were the biggest delegation at the Games with 74 athletes and they had a point to prove after winning only two golds in Sochi four years ago.

On the opening day of competition, triathete-turned-Nordic-skier Kendall Gretsch won her country's first biathlon gold medal and that opened the floodgates.

The USA finished with 36 medals, saving probably the most thrilling one for last thanks to a 2-1 win over Canada in the Para-ice hockey final for their 13th gold.

The last gold medal of the Games was won by the US Para-ice hockey team

Another highlight was seven medals in the snowboard banked slalom events, including golds for Brenna Huckaby, Mike Minor and Noah Elliott.

Paralympic sport has often been regarded as an untapped market in America but with increased coverage helping to raise the profile of the USA team, they will look to build on that.

Out of the 49 delegations who competed in Pyeongchang, 26 won a medal, which beat the record set at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, while a record 21 won golds, including debut wins for Croatia, Kazakhstan and China, as well as the hosts.

What about the Russian athletes?

With the Russian Paralympic Commitee still banned from Paralympic competition after a report found evidence of state-sponsored doping, eligible Russian athletes were able to compete as part of the 'neutral Paralympic athlete' team.

The 30 athletes competed in alpine skiing, biathlon, cross country, snowboard and wheelchair curling under the Paralympic flag, with the Paralympic anthem playing for victory.

The team were never going to dominate the medal table as Russia did four years ago where it won 80 medals, including 30 golds.

Rumyantseva was making her Paralympic debut

This time, 24 medals, eight of them gold, was a far more modest return but it was still enough for second in the table.

Nordic skiing yielded plenty of success for the neutral team, with standing competitor Ekaterina Rumyantseva winning three golds and two silvers across the cross-country and biathlon events while team-mate Mikhalina Lysova matched her Sochi achievement with six medals in the visually-impaired category.

However, Russia's Paralympic future remains uncertain with IPC president Andrew Parsons saying the suspension will not be lifted as there are reinstatement procedures to be followed.

Stories of success

One of the faces of the Games was undoubtedly Dutch snowboarder Bibian Mentel-Spee who won two golds in the snowboard cross and banked slalom events 10 weeks after having having a vertebra removed after a cancerous tumour was discovered in her neck.

The 45-year-old came to South Korea with limited training behind her, but she is a class act and there was plenty of emotion surrounding her wins.

"Anything is possible if you set your mind to it and just get the best out of yourself," she said. "It's good to know that I'm still capable of riding and pulling off two gold medals."

Mentel-Spee now has three career Paralympic gold medals

Canada's Brian McKeever, his country's most successful Winter Paralympian and now the most successful male Paralympic cross-country skier of all time, added to his tally with his 11th, 12th and 13th golds in the visually-impaired events and he finished off in style with bronze in the 4x2.5km open relay to bring his overall medal haul to 17.

They might have lost out on the final day to Britain's Fitzpatrick and Kehoe but with four golds and a silver, it was still a special Games for Slovak visually-impaired skier Henrieta Farkasova and her guide Natalia Subrtova.

Also on the slopes, there were four golds for Frenchwoman Marie Bochet in the standing competition; the only blip for her was a fall in the opening run of the super combined.

And there were those who added Winter Paralympic golds to summer Paralympic medals, including American nordic skier Oksana Masters, who had to battle through an elbow injury, and Australian snowboarder Simon Patmore.

What's next?

The Pyeongchang Games are the first of three Asian Games in a row, with the summer Games in Tokyo in 2020 to be followed by the next Winter Games Beijing in 2022.

Beijing hosted the 2008 summer Games and China will have received a massive boost after their first gold medal, courtesy of their wheelchair curling team.

The Games will feature Para-bobsleigh for the first time although skeleton failed to get the green light.

IPC president Parsons says that despite the success of Pyeongchang, his first Games in charge since taking over from Sir Philip Craven, lessons can be learned when it comes to promoting the Paralympics.

"It is no secret that we raised the issue of low ticket sales with the organising committee a few months ago, but they reacted quickly," he said.

"It is so important to have strong ticket sales for the atmosphere. The finance is important but it is more important to provide a platform for the athletes to perform."</s>Teenage skier Menna Fitzpatrick and guide Jen Kehoe became Great Britain’s most successful Winter Paralympians – and ensured the team reached its medal target – by racing to gold on the final day of the Pyeongchang Games.

Fitzpatrick, 19, and Kehoe, 34, pipped Slovakian Henrieta Farkasova, who had won all four of her other events in South Korea, to win the women’s visually impaired slalom today.

The triumph was Team GB’s first and only gold of the Games but represented a fourth medal for Fitzpatrick and Kehoe, who had already bagged two silvers and a bronze.

Read more: Team GB Winter Olympians are an inspiration, says UK Sport

“I don’t think what’s happened this week will ever sink in,” said Fitzpatrick, of Macclesfield, who was chosen to be Britain’s flag-bearer for the closing ceremony later on Sunday. “We just went for it from thereon and I’m so proud. We worked so hard and left everything out on that hill.”

Army officer Kehoe, from Salisbury, said: “Because I’d seen the split times, I’d seen that Henrieta’s final split was down by a fraction and I dared to believe it was possible at that point. When they came over the finish line and it was red, I was speechless and it was such a proud moment, a dream come true.”

Team-mates Mille Knight and guide Brett Wild took bronze – their third medal of the Games, following silver in the downhill and super-G – as Great Britain hit UK Sport’s target of seven medals.

Team GB’s medal tally was their best at a Winter Paralympics since 1984 and followed their most successful ever Winter Olympics last month.

The United States topped the medal table with 13 golds and 36 medals overall, ahead of Neutral Paralympic Athletes, with Team GB 13th.</s>The 12th Winter Paralympics have come to an end in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Here are a pick of the highlights from 10 days of action, featuring athletes from 49 countries.

It’s traditional for every Games to be hailed as “the best ever” in the celebratory speeches at the closing ceremony, but Pyeongchang truly did set a number of new records for the Winter Paralympics. The number of tickets sold exceeded those sold at Sochi, and were the most ever, with the audience for the Winter Paralympics tripling since the 2006 Turin edition.

Brian McKeever set a record by wining his 13th Paralympic gold in his fifth appearance at the Games. He’s now the most decorated Canadian Paralympian of all time, and the most successful Paralympian cross-country skier of all-time. Henrieta Farkasova, competing in the visually impaired alpine skiing, was the most decorated athlete – with four golds and a silver to take home to Slovakia.

As well as a larger audience, the Pyeongchang Games featured more athletes taking part from more countries than ever before. A record 20 different nations earned at least one gold medal, and 26 out of the 49 countries taking part won at least one medal, a higher percentage than at any Paralympics since Lillehammer in 1994.

Georgia, North Korea and Tajikistan all took part in the Winter Paralympics for the first time. China, who host the next edition, won gold at the Games for the very first time, as did Kazakhstan.

The British Paralympic team will return home on Monday boasting of a successful Games, having hit their medal target of between six and 12 medals. The seven medals won was one more than in Sochi.

All of the medals were down to work of two Paralympians and their guides. Menna Fitzpatrick and Millie Knight won medals across a range of alpine skiing disciplines, with Fitzpatrick and her guide Jen Kehoe winning Britain’s gold medal on the final morning of the Games.

Fitzpatrick said she wanted to celebrate with a “proper cup of English tea”. By taking four medals in total, the 19 year old became the most decorated British Winter Paralympian of all-time.

The British alpine para-skiiers received a large amount of funding in the run-up to Pyeongchang – £2.7m. “We had so much funding and support after Kelly Gallagher and Charlotte Evans won their gold [in Sochi] so I only hope we will create the same after ours,” said Fitzpatrick.

The Paralympics GB chef de mission, Penny Briscoe, said: “We came into these Games with clear potential on snow and ice. I’m proud of every one of the 17 athletes in this team. Even away from the medals, there have been some stunning performances and personal bests.”

One country that didn’t take part – officially – was Russia. The International Paralympic Committee had suspended the Russian Paralympic Committee as an anti-doping measure, but in January announced that Russian athletes meeting strict criteria could apply for slots in five events, and compete as Neutral Paralympic Athletes. Thirty competitors were able to take advantage of this, and they propelled the NPA team to second place in the overall medals table.

Three athletes in particular shone, with Ekaterina Rumyantseva taking three golds and two silvers in biathlon and cross-country skiing. In the same disciplines compatriot Mikhalina Lysova won two golds, three silver and a bronze, and Anna Milenina took home two golds and three silvers.

The two North American powerhouses were kept apart at the group stages, and both cruised to the final. The USA conceded only one goal en route to the gold medal match, Canada conceded none. Remarkably, given their track records in the sport, it was the first time they had met each other in a Paralympics gold medal game.

The Canadians were just 37 seconds away from reclaiming the gold medal they had last won in 2006 in Turin. But Declan Farmer had other ideas. He tied the match up at 1-1, and then scored again in sudden-death overtime to give the US their third consecutive para ice hockey gold. The gold helped the USA top the medal table for the first time since 1992.

In January Bibian Mentel-Spee underwent surgery for a cancerous tumour in her neck. By March the Dutch Paralympian was winning gold medals in South Korea. Since having the lower part of one leg amputated Mentel-Spee has survived multiple cancer surgeries and radiotherapy to emerge triumphant in snowboarding. She took gold in both the snowboard cross and the banked slalom.

Brenna Huckaby was another bone cancer survivor on the podium in the snowboarding. She took the snowboard cross and banked slalom golds in the SB-LL1, having, prior to the Games, become the first amputee Paralympian to appear in the annual Sports Illustrated swimwear issue.

Oksana Masters finally won gold at her third Paralympics, to add to a bronze earned in the rowing in London in 2012, and a bronze and silver in cross-country skiiing earned at Sochi. Masters was adopted from a Ukrainian orphange after suffering birth defects thought to be caused by radiation from the Chernobyl disaster. She dedicated the gold medal to her mother, and was given the honour of carrying the flag for the USA in the closing ceremony.

Some critics have cited small numbers of competitors in some sports and large winning margins as evidence that the Winter Paralympics are not always functional as competitive sports. That was emphatically not the case in the men’s 1.5km standing cross-country skiing. Even a photo-finish couldn’t split Canada’s Mark Arendz and Finland’s Ilkka Tuomisto in third place, and so they were each awarded a bronze medal, leading to the rare sight of a medal and victory ceremony featuring four athletes on the podium.

Securing the future of the Paralympics

The closing ceremony saw the formal handover of the Paralympic flag from Pyeongchang to the 2022 host city, Beijing. The Chinese capital will become the first city to have hosted both the summer and winter Paralympics.

And the future of the Paralympics is looking assured after an agreement signed with the IOC which ensures the two organisations will continue to cooperate up until at least 2032. It means that the IOC will continue to insist that successful Olympic bid cities will also host the Paralympics in the same year at the same venues, and gives financial stability to the IPC for the next 14 years.

“There can be no doubts that the IPC and the Paralympic movement would not be where it is today without the support and co-operation with the IOC” said the IPC president, Andrew Parsons. “Both organisations share a passion that sport can change lives and that sport can change the world. Working together will further the impact both of ours work has on society.”</s>PYEONGCHANG, Korea, Republic Of — Canadian cross-country skier Brian McKeever has captured his third gold medal of the Pyeonchang Paralympics.

The 38-year-old from Canmore, Alta., with guide Graham Nishikawa, won the visually impaired 10 kilometres on Saturday.

McKeever has 13 golds over five Paralympics.

Mark Arendz of Hartsville, P.E.I., added a bronze in the standing 10-kilometre race for his fourth medal of the Games.

Their medals boosted Canada’s total to 21, making Pyeongchang the country’s best Winter Paralympics ever.

McKeever became Canada’s most successful winter athlete when he won the 20-kilometre race to open the Games. He then added a victory in the 1.5 kilometre sprint classic.

McKeever also carried Canada’s flag into the opening ceremonies.

Canada captured 19 medals in 2010 in Vancouver, and 16 four years ago in Sochi. The team’s goal in South Korea was 17 — one better than 2014.

Canada is guaranteed another medal Sunday when the hockey team battles the rival Americans for gold.</s>Australia finished the games with one gold and three bronze medals.</s>PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – Hours before Brian McKeever completed his Pyeongchang hat trick, the veteran cross-country skier arrived at the Alpensia track before the sun was barely up.

He and his guides Russell Kennedy and Graham Nishikawa were the first skiers to arrive Saturday morning, and spent the better part of two hours testing different skis in the fast-changing weather conditions.

McKeever raced to his third gold medal at the Pyeongchang Paralympics in the visually impaired 10 kilometres on Saturday, for an incredible 13th gold of his career. Afterward, the 38-year-old from Canmore, Alta., gave credit to all the painstaking pre-race preparation by his team.

“We had about a dozen skis to get through because the temperature went from plus-20 the other day to minus-14 this morning. So that’s a massive swing,” McKeever said. “We hadn’t seen anything that cold, we hadn’t seen the snow do what it did today, and with it warming over the day we knew we were going to have to be on the ball.

“So it was all new skis, testing new structures, new everything.”

Natalie Wilkie, the youngest member of Canada’s Paralympic team at 17, raced to a thrilling gold in the standing women’s 7.5 kilometres while Emily Young of North Vancouver, B.C., claimed bronze.

And Mark Harendz of Hartsville, P.E.I., added bronze in the standing 10K for his fourth medal of the Games.

Their medals, combined with Canada’s curling bronze Saturday, boosted Canada’s total to 24 with one day remaining, making Pyeongchang the country’s best Winter Paralympics ever.

Nishikawa and Kennedy shared guiding duties for McKeever, who has Stargardt’s disease — he has peripheral vision, but no central vision. Nishikawa led for the first half, then stepped aside for Kennedy for the second half, and McKeever crossed in 23 minutes 17.8 seconds.

“It feels pretty good. That one was hard,” McKeever said.

Sweden’s Zebastian Modin had been leading but crashed badly and couldn’t finish.

“I think he’s pretty hurt,” McKeever said. “I’m feeling pretty rough for him, he’s a good friend of mine, and you never want to win that way.”

McKeever, who carried Canada’s flag into the opening ceremonies, became Canada’s most successful winter athlete in history when he won the 20-kilometre race to open the Games. He then added a victory in the 1.5 kilometre sprint classic.

The skier, who fell in love with the Olympics watching the 1988 Games in Calgary, isn’t certain if he has one more Paralympics in him.

“It won’t necessarily be up to me, it will be up to my body,” McKeever said. “It’s starting to break down and I’m more injured than I am healthy now, and it’s about managing that as we go forward. I know I’m closer to the end than the start, that’s just the reality.”

“If I make it four more (years), great. And if I don’t, I’m comfortable with that too.”

Regardless of his competitive future, he’ll ski “forever.”

“It’s one of those sports that you can do for a very long time, at a recreational level as well. My dad (who also has Stargardt’s) is in his ’70s, he still gets out as much as he can,” McKeever said. “I’m looking forward to that as well, being able to do this not just as racing and all that, but just for pleasure.”

McKeever played cheerleader for Wilkie’s race, a thriller that came down to the wire. The teenager, who lost the four fingers on her left hand in a jointer machine in Grade 9 wood work class, won in 22:12.2, edging Ekaterina Rumyantseva, a neutral Paralympian from Russia (22:13.8). Young crossed in 22:13.9.

“Awesome. I didn’t think I’d get gold at all,” said Wilkie, who won bronze earlier in the Games. “This is only my first Paralympics. It feels awesome, especially being able to share the podium with my teammate Emily.

“I was imagining when I was pushing down with my pole that I was elbowing my brother,” Wilkie added, with a laugh. “That really helped me.”

Canada’s previous best Paralympic performance was the 19 medals won in 2010 in Vancouver. The team’s goal here was to top the 16 medals from four years ago in Sochi.

Canada is guaranteed at least one more medal Sunday when the hockey team battles the rival Americans for gold. The cross-country team could add more hardware in the relays.</s>If day two was to be any indication, the PyeongChang Games were going to be a long Winter Paralympics for Australia.

After a medal-less opening day, the country's alpine skiers failed to threaten the podium and the team's prospects received a sledgehammer blow when co-captain and world No.2 snowboarder Joany Badenhorst was ruled out.

It seemed as though their gold medal drought stretching back to Salt Lake City in 2002, when far more medals were offered due to more disability classes in alpine skiing, was set to continue.

Patmore was an unknown quantity coming into the Games considering his inexperience in para-snowboarding.

While a proven performer on the world stage with a bronze in athletics at the London 2012 Paralympics, he had only taken up the sport in 2014.

But his triumph in the snowboard cross upper-limb category on day three lifted the monkey off the team's back.

A day later, Melissa Perrine won her first medal in her third Games in super-combined and backed up the next day with a second bronze in giant slalom.

Patmore then won bronze in banked slalom and Australia had bettered its performances at Turin 2006 (one silver, one bronze), Vancouver 2010 (one silver, three bronze) and Sochi 2014 (two bronze), with pre-Games hopes of three medals exceeded.

The country has finished 15th on the medal table.

"It was like going to the movies. The previous day we were down in the depths of despair with Joany's misfortune.

"Then by the evening, joy."

Despite the success, there have been disappointments.

Perhaps the biggest was co-captain and world champion alpine skier Mitch Gourley's failure to reach a maiden Paralympic podium at his third Games despite being in bronze medal position during two of his five events.

Badenhorst, who has starred on the World Cup stage in recent years, is yet to compete on the Paralympic snow after heavy crashes in training accidents at her last two campaigns.

And on the penultimate day of the Games, five of the six men's skiing contingent failed to finish their first runs of the slalom.

"It was raining medals there for a time" Dean said.

"If you want to get greedy, it would have been lovely if Mitch had skied as well in his second runs.

"That would have been the icing on the cake. There's no-one more deserving of a medal than Mitch Gourley."

As in many Paralympic teams, there are athletes who have overcome major challenges just to be there.

Sean Pollard, who lost both hands in a shark attack, performed beyond his two years of experience to finish fifth in the banked slalom upper-limb class.

Shaun Pianta, who lost his vision after contracting a superbug in Bali, made his Games debut despite tearing his ACL three months ago.

Patmore, Perrine and Gourley have not ruled out continuing to 2022, and with five debutants in the team, the signs are good for Beijing.</s>Para nordic star Mark Arendz leads the way at the Pyeongchang closing ceremony starting Sunday at 6 a.m. ET as the Canadian contingent celebrates its best-ever Winter Paralympics performance.

Click on the video player below for described video.

Arendz won five individual medals in as many events at the Games and added a cross-country mixed relay silver for his sixth in Pyeongchang.

"This is an absolute honour and a privilege to receive the flag from my teammate, mentor and hero Brian McKeever [who carried the flag in the opening ceremony] to lead a record-setting group of Canadian athletes," Arendz said in a press release.

"I hope the next generation of young Canadians see me carrying that flag in and are inspired the same way I was to chase their dreams."

Canada set a new national Paralympic record with 28 medals in Pyeongchang, eclipsing the previous best of 19 from the 2010 Games in Vancouver. Canadian Paralympians earned eight gold, four silver and 16 bronze in South Korea.</s>After a jam-packed month in PyeongChang, South Korea, the Winter Olympics and Paralympics have come to a close. And the latter especially saw Team USA dominate the competition, collecting more medals than any other country.

The Paralympics ran from Mar. 9 to Mar. 18, and brought Team USA not only a whooping 36 medals, but also saw them breaking several records and marking a number of historic firsts for the team. Missed the highlights? Here’s a roundup of the most memorable moments of the Paralympics.

1. Team USA had their highest medal haul since 2002.

 At the Paralympic Games in Salt Lake City, Team USA won 43 medals. Their medal count in PyeongChang is 36, the second-highest total ever, following Salt Lake City and the 1994 games in Lillehammer, Norway, where Team USA also won 43 medals.

2. A record number of athletes participated.

 A total of 567 athletes competed in the Paralympics, representing 49 different countries.

3. The Team USA sled hockey team won their third gold medal in a row.

 And with that win, they became the first sled hockey team to ever win three consecutive gold medals at the Paralympics. They won thanks to the help of a goal scored in the final minute of the game, scored by Declan Farmer.

4. Eighteen military veterans were a part of Team USA.

 They brought home nine medals from the Games.

5. 26 countries overall won medals — a new record.

 Over half of the 49 total delegations won medals, with a record 20 winning golds.

6. Oksana Masters made Paralympic history for Team USA with her five medals.

 Cross-country skier Masters became the most decorated female Paralympian in history, with five medals won in PyeongChang, two in Sochi and one in London (for rowing.) She carried the U.S. flag at the closing ceremonies.

7. Kendall Gretsch won a biathlon gold medal.

 It was the first medal for Team USA in the sport at either the Paralympics or the Olympics.

8. Team USA snowboarders increased their medal count from Sochi.

 In PyeongChang, they won 13 medals — over a third of Team USA’s total medal count — which is an increase of four from the 2014 games.

9. Team USA cross-country skiers did really well, too.

 They won 16 medals, which is a leap of 11 medals from their previous record of five in 2002.

10. Every single day of the Paralympics, Team USA led the medal count.

 The Games lasted for nine days, and they led the gold medal count each day of the games, too.

11. By the fifth day of the Winter Paralympics, Team USA surpassed their medal count from Sochi.

 Team USA won 18 medals in Sochi in 2014.</s>The 2018 PyeongChang Paralympic Winter Games came to a close on Sunday with a celebration of disabled athletes who broke down barriers during the 10-day competition.

PyeongChang, some 180 kilometres east of Seoul, along with the sub-host cities of Gangneung and Jeongseon, hosted 567 athletes from 49 countries -- both records for Winter Paralympics, reports Yonhap news agency.

The athletes vied for 80 gold medals, also a record for the multi-winter sports event for the disabled.

The closing ceremony at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, titled "We Move the World," brought para-athletes together for one last time in PyeongChang.

The ceremony also featured performers with physical impairments for its art segments, which expressed hope for a world that embraces diversity and differences among people.

At the onset of the ceremony, six South Korean para-athletes, each representing six sports of the Paralympics, carried their national flag into the stadium. They were Jang Dong-shin in para ice hockey, Bang Min-ja in wheelchair curling, Lee Chi-won in alpine skiing, Park Hang-seung in snowboarding, Lee Do-yeon in biathlon and Lee Jeong-min in cross-country skiing.

Then as the participating countries' flags all entered the stadium, Sin Eui-hyun, the cross-country champion for South Korea, served as the flagbearer for the host nation.

During the ceremony, New Zealand's para-alpine skier Adam Hall and Finland's para-Nordic skier Sini Pyy were honoured with the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award.

The Paralympic flag was handed over to Beijing, the next host of the Winter Paralympics in 2022. Then the Paralympic Flame was extinguished at the end of a dance performance called "Dosalpuri," a dance of affections and memories, on the stage on which the flame was projection-mapped.

For the finale, a segment titled "Blooming Happiness," South Korean vocalist Ailee performed with Bae Hui Gwan Band, which is made up of musicians with disabilities.

The PyeongChang Paralympics were the most successful Winter Paralympics in terms of ticket sales, with more than 343,000 tickets sold. The previous record had been 316,200 tickets sold at the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympics.

The United States topped the Winter Paralympic Games for the first time since Albertville 1992 thanks to 13 gold, 15 silver and eight bronze medals.

The Neutral Paralympic Athletes from Russia was second with eight gold, 10 silver and six bronze medals. The Russians were not allowed to compete under their national flag due to a state-sponsored doping scandal.
The closing ceremony of the Winter Paralympics takes place with the United States team winning the medal table with 36 medals (13 gold, 15 silver and 8 bronze).