Snowboarder Lee Sangho holds up the winner’s prize after taking second place in the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games men’s parallel giant slalom event, at the Phoenix Park in Pyeongchang, Gangwon-do Province, on Feb. 24.
By Xu Aiying and Kim Young Shin
Photos = Yonhap News
Korea has won its first-ever Olympic medal on snow at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
Snowboarder Lee Sangho claimed silver in the men’s parallel giant slalom event held at Phoenix Park in Pyeongchang on Feb. 24. He finished second in the final to Swiss boarder Nevin Galmarini by 0.43 seconds.
Lee has now become the first Korean Olympic medalist on snow in the 58-year history of Korea trying skiing or snowboarding events, ever since the Squaw Valley 1960 Winter Olympics.
Lee Sangho slides down the slope in the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games men’s parallel giant slalom snowboarding event, at Phoenix Park on Feb. 24.
Lee’s total time in the elimination run was 1:25.06, ranking third among the 32 athletes and made it to the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, he was against Slovenian snowboarder Zan Kosir, who ranked second in the elimination run. Lee was behind Kosir until the middle of the race but beat his rival by 0.01 seconds at the last minute.
During the final run, Lee tried to catch up with Galmarini, who ranked first in the elimination round, reducing the gap to 0.23 seconds midway down, but lost to the Swiss snowboarder by 0.43 seconds.
“It’s still unbelievable to me,” said Lee after the race. Regarding the semifinal round, in which he won by 0.01 seconds, he said, “It was a tough race but I wasn’t nervous. I’m lucky to have such a good result and I feel like I trained myself well.”
Lee Sangho (left) poses with gold medalist Nevin Galmarini from Switzerland (center) and bronze medalist Zan Kosirfrom Slovenia after the men’s parallel giant slalom snowboarding event, at Phoenix Park in Pyeongchang on Feb. 24.
xuaiy@korea.kr
