South Korea had mixed results in the men’s snowboard parallel giant slalom at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics, with Lee Sang-ho (Nexen Wingard) eliminated in the round of 16 and Kim Sang-gyeom (High1) advancing to the semifinals.
Lee lost to Austria’s Andreas Prommegger by 0.17 seconds in the round of 16 on Feb. 8 (local time) at Livigno Snow Park in Italy.
In parallel giant slalom, two riders race side by side. The top 16 from qualifying advance to a single-elimination bracket to decide the final standings.
Lee reached the knockout round after placing sixth in qualifying with a combined time of 1 minute, 26.74 seconds across two runs. But he could not hold an early edge against Prommegger, a 1980-born veteran who qualified 11th.
Lee won silver in the event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, South Korea’s first Olympic medal in skiing and snowboarding. After a quarterfinal exit at the Beijing Games, he again fell short of the podium, ending his third Olympic campaign.
Kim advanced to the quarterfinals when Slovenia’s Zan Kosir fell during their round-of-16 race. Kim then beat Italy’s Roland Fischnaller in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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