S. Korean snowboarder grabs bronze at FIS World Cup in PyeongChang
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korean alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho won a bronze medal at an International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup on home soil Sunday.
Lee beat Maurizio Bormolini of Italy by 1.39 seconds to finish third in the men's parallel giant slalom (PGS) event at the FIS World Cup in PyeongChang, an alpine town in Gangwon Province that hosted the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
It was Lee's first international medal from a slope that was named after him. Lee became the first South Korean to win an Olympic medal from skiing sports when he won silver at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games. To honor his achievement, Bokwang Phoenix Park, a venue that hosted alpine snowboarding events at the 2018 Winter Games, named a slope after the snowboarder.
South Korean alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho competes in the men's parallel giant slalom (PGS) event at the FIS World Cup in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, on Feb. 17, 2019. (Yonhap)
This was also Lee's first FIS World Cup medal of the season and only the second of his career. He previously took silver at the FIS World Cup in Turkey in March 2017.
Lee finished fifth in Saturday's race in PyeongChang, 180 kilometers east of Seoul, raising expectations for the competition on Sunday.
Lee reached the round of 16 after finishing fourth with combined time of 1 minute, 19.51 seconds in his two qualifying runs. The 23-year-old then upset current world No. 1 Roland Fischnaller of Italy by 0.53 second to advance to the quarterfinals and later edged out Tim Mastnak of Slovenia by 0.19 second to join the last four.
However, his winning run stopped in the semifinal against Sylvain Dufour of France after he lost his balance and crashed into the snow. Andreas Prommegger of Austria later beat Dufour and claimed gold.
Meanwhile, no South Korean women qualified for the finals on Sunday. Jang Seo-hee had the best result among South Koreans by taking 22nd place. Jeong Hae-rim, who reached the quarterfinals in Saturday's competition, finished 25th.
The women's PGS title went to Ramona Hofmeister of Germany, who beat Sabine Schoeffmann of Austria.
Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic, a gold medalist at PyeongChang 2018 and Saturday's PGS winner, finished first in the qualifying round, but had to settle for a bronze on Sunday.
South Korean alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho poses for a photo after winning a bronze medal at the FIS World Cup in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, on Feb. 17, 2019. (Yonhap)
kdon@yna.co.kr
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