Kim and Yoo earned their medals one day apart in snowboarding at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics, expanding South Korea’s footprint beyond its traditional winter strengths.
◆ From day laborer to Olympic medalist: Kim Sang-gyeom’s fourth try
Kim won silver in the men’s parallel giant slalom final at Livigno Snow Park. It was the first medal for South Korea’s team at these Olympics.
Kim began athletics as a child while dealing with asthma, then took up snowboarding in middle school on a teacher’s recommendation. After graduating from Korea National Sport University in 2011, he continued without a corporate-backed team, working part-time during training and taking day labor jobs at construction sites in the offseason to support himself.
He showed early promise by winning the parallel giant slalom at the 2011 Erzurum Winter Universiade in Turkey, but struggled at the Olympics: 17th in qualifying at the 2014 Sochi Games to miss the round of 16; eliminated in the round of 16 at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games; and 24th in qualifying at the 2022 Beijing Games. His best world championships finish was fourth in parallel giant slalom in 2021.
Kim’s results improved in his mid-30s. He won his first FIS Snowboard World Cup medal — silver — in November 2024 in Meilin, China, 15 years into his career, then added bronze in March last year in Krynica, Poland.
At his fourth Olympics, Kim advanced eighth in qualifying and reached the knockout rounds. In the quarterfinals, he upset Roland Fischnaller of Italy, the No. 1 rider in this season’s FIS World Cup parallel giant slalom rankings. Kim reached the final but lost to Benjamin Karl of Austria by 0.19 seconds to take silver.
“Finally, I did it. I’m really happy,” Kim said in a broadcast interview after the race. “I’m so glad to win a medal at my fourth Olympics. Today I rode at more than 90 points.”
Thanking his family, he added, “Thank you for waiting. My family gave me a lot of strength. Thanks to everyone who believed in me, I didn’t give up and made it this far. I’ll hang this medal on my mom, dad and my wife.”
“Snowboarding is my life,” he said. “There’s still a lot to get through, but I believe if I keep at it, there will be even better results.”
Kim’s medal also marked a milestone for South Korean Olympic history. South Korea’s ski and snowboard programs won their first Olympic medal in 2018, when Lee Sang-ho took silver in the same event. Kim’s result added another medal in parallel giant slalom eight years later.
It was also South Korea’s 400th Olympic medal overall. South Korea won its first Olympic medal at the 1948 London Summer Olympics, when weightlifter Kim Seong-jip earned bronze. Through the 2024 Paris Games, South Korea had won 320 Summer Olympic medals (109 gold, 100 silver, 111 bronze). Through the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, it had won 79 Winter Olympic medals (33 gold, 30 silver, 16 bronze), for a total of 399 before Kim’s silver.
◆ Yoo Seung-eun breaks through with South Korea women’s first snow-sports medal
The next day, Yoo won bronze in the women’s snowboard big air final with 171.00 points across her first two runs. It was the first Olympic medal for a South Korean woman in skiing or snowboarding, and a notable result in a freestyle event judged on tricks and execution rather than alpine-style racing decided by fractions of a second.
Yoo, born in 2008, reached the podium after a long stretch of rehabilitation. Soon after making her World Cup debut in 2024, she suffered an ankle injury that kept her off the snow for an extended period. Ahead of the Olympic season, she also broke her wrist during training. With big air’s high risk of falls, some questioned whether she could even compete at the Games.
In her first final run, Yoo landed a “backside triple cork 1440,” a difficult trick involving a backward rotation and four spins, scoring 87.75 points. She added her second-run score to reach 171.00 overall, and despite an unsteady landing on her third run, her earlier scores held up for bronze.
“I still can’t believe it. It’s an honor just to be on the same stage as the athletes I respect,” Yoo said after the medal ceremony. “For a year, I couldn’t do much because of injuries, but this experience gave me the courage that I can do it again next time. I’m really proud of myself.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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