Lee Sang-ho becomes 1st S. Korean snowboarder to win World Cup overall title

▲ South Korean snowboarder Lee Sang-ho celebrates after winning bronze medal in the men's parallel slalom event at the International Ski Federation Snowboard World Cup in Piancavallo, Italy, on March 12, 2022, in this photo provided by the Korea Ski Association. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ In this file photo from Feb. 8, 2022, Lee Sang-ho of South Korea competes in the quarterfinals of the men's parallel giant slalom snowboard event at the Beijing Winter Olympics at Genting Snow Park P & X Stadium in Zhangjiakou, some 180 kilometers northwest of Beijing. (Yonhap)

snowboarder-season

Lee Sang-ho becomes 1st S. Korean snowboarder to win World Cup overall title

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) -- The 2018 Olympic silver medalist Lee Sang-ho has become the first South Korean snowboarder to win the overall World Cup title.

The alpine snowboarder earned a bronze medal in the men's parallel slalom event at the season-ending International Ski Federation (FIS) Snowboard World Cup in Berchtesgaden, Germany, on Saturday.

It gave Lee 604 points in the World Cup standings and made him the 2021-2022 season overall champion, 98 points ahead of Stefan Baumeister of Germany.

Lee had 359 points in the parallel giant slalom and 245 points in the parallel slalom, ranking second in those two categories. But the combined point total gave Lee a comfortable victory over Baumeister, who ranked first in the parallel giant slalom but only seventh in the parallel slalom.

For the season, Lee collected one gold, two silver and four bronze medals, including one from a mixed team event.

He has been making South Korean snowboard history throughout his career. In March 2017, Lee became the first South Korean snowboarder to win a World Cup medal. Then on home soil at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Lee captured silver in the parallel giant slalom, becoming the first South Korean medalist in an Olympic skiing discipline.

Lee had been a heavy gold medal favorite at the Beijing Winter Games last month but was knocked out in the quarterfinals by 0.01 second.

(END)
 

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved