National snowboarder Kim Sangkyum on Feb. 8 poses with his silver medal along with winner Benjamin Karl of Austria and bronze medalist Tervel Zamfirov of Bulgaria at the winners' podium of the men's parallel giant slalom at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.

By Xu Aiying

Photos = Team Korea's official Instagram account

Snowboarder Kim Sangkyum on Feb. 8 won the nation's first medal in the men's parallel giant slalom at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy, with his victory also marking the 400th career Olympic medal for Korea spanning both the Summer and Winter Games.

Missing the lead by just 0.19 seconds, Kim won the silver behind Benjamin Karl of Austria at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno.

The parallel giant slalom has two competitors race in parallel on snowboards and compete for speed. In the preliminaries, 32 athletes run two courses each and the top 16 advance to the finals based on their combined times.

From the round of 16 to the final, rankings are determined based on single-round elimination.

In the morning preliminaries, Kim recorded a combined time of 1 minute, 27.18 seconds. In the quarterfinal, he defeated Italy's Roland Fischnaller, who is ranked No. 1 in the event this season in the World Cup standings by FIS, the skiing and snowboarding's world governing body.

Kim in the final initially had a slight lead over Karl, but the latter sped up later in the match to claim victory.

As the first Korean to compete in this event at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia, Kim finally made the winners' podium on his fourth attempt.

Snowboarder Kim Sangkyum on Feb. 8 celebrates after advancing to the final of the men's parallel giant slalom at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno.

President Lee Jae Myung on Feb. 9 on his Facebook page wrote, "I extend my warmest congratulations to Kim Sangkyum, who won the silver medal in the men's parallel giant slalom of snowboarding."

"This medal is even more meaningful as the 400th medal in the Olympic history of the Republic of Korea," he added. "As our nation's second silver medal in a snow sport, this clearly proves that the country has made huge strides in competitiveness not only in skating but also snow sports."

xuaiy@korea.kr