Parallel Giant Slalom, Men

One of the most exciting snowboard events, the men’s parallel giant slalom competition at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games was held on 24 February at the Bogwang Phoenix Park in PyeongChang. The shorter parallel slalom race from Sochi 2014 was dropped to add in the big air to the Olympic programme.

Favorites for podium spots included two-time Sochi 2014 Olympic champion Russia’s (OAR’s) Vic Wild, Switzerland’s Nevin Galmarini, and Slovenia’s Žan Košir, The trio won gold, silver, and bronze respectively four years previous. Wild’s two gold medals at Sochi 2014 (parallel slalom, parallel giant slalom) marked the first time a snowboarder had won two medals at the same Olympic Winter Games. Reigning World champion Andreas Prommegger of Austria, 37, was also a threat.

The top three qualifiers leading to the final were Galmarina, Košir and Lee Sang-Ho (KOR), while Wild qualified in ninth out of the 16 racers to advance. In the straight elimination finals of 16, Wild was beaten by 2015 World champion and five-time Olympian Roland Fischnaller of Italy. During the semifinals, Košir appeared to beat Lee in a dramatic finish, but officials declared that the home-crowd favorite South Korean had won by .01 seconds, even though replays of the finish showed that Košir appeared to have gotten his arm across the finish line before Lee did. The result stood and Košir went on to win the bronze finishing 1.49 seconds clear of France’s Sylvain Dufour.

In the final Galmarini, the silver medalist at Sochi 2014, finished 0.43 seconds ahead of Lee, winning his second career Olympic medal. In winning silver, Lee had captured his country’s first Olympic snowboarding medal. Following Galmarini’s victory, Switzerland had now won three of the five gold medals since the Winter Olympics introduced giant slalom snowboarding in 2002.