Snowboard medal hopeful Lee Sang-ho reaches knockouts in men's parallel giant slalom
Lee Sang-ho of Korea competes in the qualification round of the men's parallel giant slalom snowboard event at the Winter Olympics at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 8. AP-Yonhap
MILAN, Italy — Korean snowboard medal hopeful Lee Sang-ho advanced to the knockout round in the men's parallel giant slalom at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday.
In the qualification stage, Lee ranked sixth with a combined time of 1:26.74 after two runs down the slope at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, some 230 kilometers north of Milan.
Lee is the 2018 Olympic silver medalist in this event and remains the only Korean to win an Olympic medal in a snowboarding or a skiing event. He was eliminated in the quarterfinals at the 2022 Olympics.
In the qualification run, boarders took two runs — one each on the blue course and the red course — and the top 16 athletes based on the combined times moved on to the elimination round.
Lee had the fifth-fastest time on the blue course at 43.21 seconds and the 10th-best time on the red course at 43.53 seconds.
Those 16 boarders then got drawn into a knockout bracket, with each race featuring two athletes riding side-by-side down the courses — hence the descriptor "parallel" — and the winners progressing to the next phase.
In the round of 16 scheduled for later Sunday, Lee will be up against Andreas Prommegger of Austria, who finished 11th in the qualification with 1:27.40.
Another Korean, Kim Sang-kyum, also qualified for the knockout phase after finishing eighth in the qualification with 1:27.18. Kim had the 18th-fastest time on the blue course with 43.74 seconds but covered the red course in 43.44 seconds, the eighth-best time there.
Kim will race against Zan Kosir of Slovenia, who had the ninth-best qualification time with 1:27.33.
The third Korean man in action, Cho Wan-hee, finished 18th at 1:27.76.
Earlier Sunday, Jeong Hae-rim was eliminated in the qualification stage of the women's parallel giant slalom after finishing 31st among 32 boarders at 1:40.55. She was the lone Korean in the event.