Published : Feb. 7, 2022 - 09:16
In this file photo from Jan. 28, 2022, South Korean alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho trains during an open practice session at Welli Hilli Park in Hoengseong, some 140 kilometers east of Seoul. (Yonhap)
Alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho will try to make a new piece of South Korean Olympic history on Tuesday, when the men's parallel giant slalom event takes place at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Lee became the first South Korean snowboarder to win an Olympic medal four years ago, capturing silver in the parallel giant slalom on home soil at PyeongChang. As the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup overall points leader, Lee enters Beijing 2022 as a strong gold medal contender.
The qualification run is scheduled to begin at 11:07 a.m. at Genting Snow Park P & X Stadium in Zhangjiakou, about 180 kilometers northwest of Beijing. The top 16 boarders will move on to the knockout stage and will be dropped into a tournament-style bracket. The top qualifier will be up against the 16th seed, and so forth. The winner of the Big Final will grab the gold medal, with the loser taking home the silver medal. The winner of the Small Final will claim bronze.
Also on Tuesday, speed skater Kim Min-seok will chase his second straight medal in the men's 1,500m. He won the bronze medal in that event at PyeongChang 2018.
Kim will be joined by his good friend Park Seong-hyeon, who was the last skater added to the South Korean team after a spot opened up at the last minute in the 1,500m.
The men's figure skating competition begins Tuesday with the short program. Cha Jun-hwan and Lee Si-hyeong will represent South Korea.
Cha finished 15th in PyeongChang, the best Olympic performance by a South Korean man, and will try to outdo himself in Beijing.
Cha won the International Skating Union (ISU) Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Estonia on Jan. 23 with a personal-best score of 273.22 points. (Yonhap)