Beijing, China, February 7, 2022: China’s teenage snowboarder Su Yiming was living the Olympic dream in winning the silver medal in the men’s snowboard slopestyle at Genting Snow Park on Monday.
Su, who will not turn 18 until February 18, finished on the podium alongside two of his heroes of the sport – Canadians Max Parrot and Mark McMorris.
Parrot, silver medallist at PyeongChang 2018, won gold with a best score of the three runs of 90.96. Su took silver with 88.70 from his second run and McMorris nailed bronze with 88.53 on his final attempt.
“This is amazing for me because, from when I was very young, I had this dream to appear in my home town and compete against my idol from childhood,” said Su, referring to McMorris, who won bronze medals at Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018.
“I would like to thank my country, my family and my friends for all their support so that I can compete without any concerns.”
Despite his second-run score of 88.70 putting him in a strong position for the podium, he did not let up in his third and final run but it yielded only 66.58.
Su explained his thinking: “I know in snowboarding that nobody will give up. Everyone will try to achieve their best to the end, but my third run was not so successful. At least I was able to complete all my tricks in the first two runs.
“I would like to congratulate the other medal winners and thank them because I watched their videos growing up.”
Su added: "Everyone was riding so sick and we're having a lot of fun. This moment is so special."
It was special for China, too, as Su made history by grabbing the first-ever men’s Olympic snowboard medal for his nation.
(Photo: FIS Snowboarding)