(Olympics) S. Korea enters medal race with stunner in snowboard

MILAN, Feb. 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korea entered the medal race of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday, the second day of action after the opening ceremony, as the alpine snowboarder Kim Sang-kyum came through with a shocking silver medal.

Kim finished in second place in the men's parallel giant slalom event at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, about 140 kilometers north of Milan, for South Korea's first medal of this year's Winter Games. In the final, Kim lost to the defending champion from Austria, Benjamin Karl, by 0.19 second, but it was Kim's path to that point that was highly improbable.

The competition began with the qualification round earlier in the day. The top 16 boarders based on their combined times from two runs progressed to the knockout phase, and Kim only ranked eighth, without giving any indication that he had another gear left in him to contend for a medal in the next stage.

But then Kim won his first knockout race when his opponent, Zan Kosir of Slovenia, fell and failed to complete his race.

In the quarterfinals, Kim faced Roland Fischnaller of Italy, No. 1 in the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) World Cup standings this season. And once again, Kim had his opponent fall and be unable to finish the run, as he advanced to the semifinals.

Kim beat Tervel Zamfirov of Bulgaria by 0.23 second to secure a spot in the final, where Karl managed to stay on his feet and captured his second straight gold.

Also in snowboard at Livigno Snow Park on Sunday, Yu Seung-eun qualified for the women's big air final by finishing fourth in the qualification with 166.5 points. The top dozen boarders out of 29 will compete for medals in the final scheduled for Monday evening.

Also Sunday, South Korea was knocked out of the mixed doubles curling tournament, even after winning both of its matches on the day.

Kim Seon-yeong and Jeong Yeong-seok defeated Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill of Estonia 9-3 in the first match of the day at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, some 260 kilometers northeast of Milan. Kim and Jeong then took down Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant of Canada 9-5 in the second match of the day.

South Korea improved to 3-5 after these wins, not enough to get into the top four spots -- taken by Britain, the United States, Italy and Sweden.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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