Belgium at the 2018 Winter Olympics

Belgium at the 2018 Winter Olympics
Flag of Belgium
IOC code	BEL
NOC	Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee
Website	www.teambelgium.be  (in Dutch and French)
in Pyeongchang, South Korea 9–25 February 2018
Competitors	22 (13 men and 9 women) in 9 sports
Flag bearer	Seppe Smits [1]
Medals Ranked 25th	Gold 0 Silver 1 Bronze 0 Total 1
Winter Olympics appearances (overview)
1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026

Belgium competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from 9 to 25 February 2018, with 22 competitors in 9 sports. They won one silver medal, the country's first Winter Olympic medal since 1998, ranking 25th in the medal table.

Medalists

Main article: 2018 Winter Olympics medal table

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Silver	Bart Swings	Speed skating	Men's mass start	February 24

Competitors

The following is the list of number of competitors participating in the Belgian delegation per sport.

Sport	Men	Women	Total
Alpine skiing	2	2	4
Biathlon	2	0	2
Bobsleigh	0	4	4
Cross-country skiing	1	0	1
Figure skating	1	1	2
Short track speed skating	2	0	2
Skeleton	0	1	1
Snowboarding	3	0	3
Speed skating	2	1	3
Total	13	9	22

Alpine skiing

Main articles: Alpine skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Alpine skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Qualification

Belgium qualified two male and two female alpine skiers, Kai Alaerts, Marjolein Decroix, Sam Maes and Kim Vanreusel.

Athlete	Event	Run 1		Run 2		Total
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Kai Alaerts	Men's slalom	DNF
Sam Maes	Men's giant slalom	1:13.29	38	1:12.91	31	2:26.20	32
	Men's slalom	52.90	37	DNF
Marjolein Decroix	Women's slalom	55.91	45	54.80	36	1:50.71	38
Kim Vanreusel	Women's downhill	—				1:46.51	30
	Women's super-G	—				1:27.60	40
	Women's giant slalom	1:17.60	41	1:14.92	39	2:32.52	39
	Women's slalom	55.90	44	55.96	41	1:51.86	40
	Women's combined	DNF		—

Biathlon

Main articles: Biathlon at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Biathlon at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Qualification

Belgium qualified two male biathletes, signifying the nation's Olympic debut in the sport.

Athlete	Event	Time	Misses	Rank
Florent Claude	Men's sprint	25:43.7	3 (1+2)	55
	Men's pursuit	39:22.7	4 (1+1+1+1)	57
	Men's individual	53:03.2	2 (0+0+0+2)	54
Michael Rösch	Men's sprint	25:09.4	2 (0+2)	38
	Men's pursuit	35:55.1	1 (0+0+0+1)	23
	Men's individual	55:10.1	5 (0+3+0+2)	75

Bobsleigh

Main articles: Bobsleigh at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Bobsleigh at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Qualification

Belgium qualified two teams for the women's bobsleigh competition. ^[2]

Athlete	Event	Run 1		Run 2		Run 3		Run 4		Total
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
An Vannieuwenhuyse* Sophie Vercruyssen	Two-woman	51.24	14	51.28	14	51.53	17	51.20	8	3:25.25	12
Sara Aerts Elfje Willemsen*		51.03	10	51.27	13	51.10	10	51.21	9	3:24.61	11

* – Denotes the driver of each sled

Cross-country skiing

Main articles: Cross-country skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Cross-country skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Qualification

Belgium qualified one male skier, Thierry Langer, signifying the nation's Olympic debut in the sport.

Distance

Athlete	Event	Final
		Time	Deficit	Rank
Thierry Langer	Men's 15 km freestyle	37:45.0	4:01.1	66

Figure skating

Main article: Figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics

Belgium qualified one female figure skater, based on its placement at the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, Finland. ^[3] They additionally qualified one male figure skater through the 2017 CS Nebelhorn Trophy. ^[4] The team was announced on 15 December 2017. ^[5]

Athlete	Event	SP		FS		Total
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Jorik Hendrickx	Men's singles	84.74	11 Q	164.21	16	248.95	14
Loena Hendrickx	Ladies' singles	55.16	20 Q	116.72	14	171.88	16

Short track speed skating

Main articles: Short track speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Short track speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Qualification

Belgium qualified two skaters for men's 1500 m event for the Olympics during the four World Cup events in November 2017. ^[6] The team was officially announced on 26 December 2017 by the Belgian Olympic Committee. ^[7]

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Jens Almey	Men's 1500 m	2:12.998	2 Q	—	6	did not advance
Ward Pétré		2:17.362	5	did not advance

Skeleton

Main articles: Skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Qualification

Belgium qualified one female skeleton athlete. This will mark the country's Winter Olympics debut in the sport. ^[8]

Athlete	Event	Run 1		Run 2		Run 3		Run 4		Total
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Kim Meylemans	Women's	52.56	16	52.54	14	52.34	13	52.26	11	3:29.70	14

Snowboarding

Main articles: Snowboarding at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Snowboarding at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Qualification

Belgium qualified three male snowboarders, Sebbe De Buck, Seppe Smits and Stef Vandeweyer.

Freestyle

Athlete	Event	Qualification				Final
		Run 1	Run 2	Best	Rank	Run 1	Run 2	Run 3	Best	Rank
Sebbe De Buck	Men's big air	33.50	17	30.25	18	did not advance
	Men's slopestyle	59.40	29.58	59.40	12	did not advance
Seppe Smits	Men's big air	50.00	13	59.25	15	did not advance
	Men's slopestyle	78.36	41.48	78.36	6 Q	31.11	69.03	66.18	69.03	10
Stef Vandeweyer	Men's big air	61.00	12	29.50	14	did not advance
	Men's slopestyle	33.75	21.16	33.75	17	did not advance

Speed skating

Main articles: Speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Qualification

Belgium earned the following quotas at the conclusion of the four World Cup's used for qualification. ^[9] The team was officially announced on 26 December 2017 by the Belgian Olympic Committee. ^[7] Belgium later earned an additional quota for Mathias Vosté after the approval of the Olympic Athletes from Russia team allowed for reallocations.^{[ citation needed ]}

Individual

Athlete	Event	Race
		Time	Rank
Bart Swings	Men's 1500 m	1:45.49	6
	Men's 5000 m	6:14.57	6
	Men's 10000 m	13:03.53	8
Mathias Vosté	Men's 500 m	35.546	32
	Men's 1000 m	1:11.24	35
	Men's 1500 m	1:47.34	23
Jelena Peeters	Women's 5000 m	7:10.26	10

Mass start

Athlete	Event	Semifinal			Final
		Points	Time	Rank	Points	Time	Rank
Bart Swings	Men's mass start	5	8:13.57	5 Q	40	7:44.08

References

1. "Opening Ceremony Flagbearers - Olympic Winter Games, PyeongChang 2018" (PDF). olympic.org. International Olympic Committee (IOC). 9 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
2. "Quota Allocation PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games 2018 - Women´s Bobsleigh - IBSF 14 January 2018" (PDF). www.ibsf.org. International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF). 15 January 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
3. "Figure Skating Quota places for the XXIII Olympic Winter Games 2018". www.isu.org/. International Skating Union. 4 April 2017. Archived from the original on 23 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
4. "ISU communication 2119". www.isu.org/. International Skating Union . Retrieved 21 October 2017.
5. "Les premiers athlètes belges sélectionnés pour les JO 2018 sont connus" [The first Belgian athletes selected for the 2018 Olympics are known]. 7sur7.be (in French). 15 December 2017. Archived from the original on 18 December 2017.
6. "XXI II Olympic Winter Games 2018 PyeongChang: Qualified quota places Short Track Speed Skating". International Skating Union (ISU). 23 November 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
7. "PyeongChang 2018: Participation du Team Belgium" [PyeongChang 2018: Team Belgium's participation]. www.olympic.be/ (in French). Belgian Olympic Committee. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
8. "Quota Allocation PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games 2018 - Women's Skeleton - IBSF 14 January 2018" (PDF). www.ibsf.org. International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF). 15 January 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
9. "Communication No. 2136: XXIII Olympic Winter Games 2018 PyeongChang Entries Speed Skating". www.isu.org/. International Skating Union (ISU). 20 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.