Teen snowboarder reaches men's halfpipe final

SEOUL, February 12 (AJP) - With this year's Winter Olympics underway in Cortina d'Ampezzo and Milan, teen snowboarder Lee Chae-un finished ninth in the qualifying round of the men's halfpipe on Wednesday, becoming the first South Korean man to reach the final.

He is now set to compete in the final round in the alpine town of Livigno in northern Italy on Thursday, where the top 12 snowboarders will vie for medals.

At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Lee competed as South Korea's youngest athlete but was eliminated in the qualifying round after finishing 18th.

Now he hopes to secure a medal that eluded him four years ago.

Meanwhile, Australia's Scotty James led the qualifying round with 94 points, followed by Japanese snowboarders Yuto Totsuka (91.25) and Ryusei Yamada (90.25).