Underdog shock at the Milan-Cortina Games
First medalist for Korea at the Winter Olympics
Top contenders Kosir, Fischnaller, and Zampirov defeated in succession
Narrow loss to Karl in the final by just 0.19 seconds
Thirty-seven-year-old veteran Kim Sanggyeom (High1) of Korean alpine snowboarding pulled off an underdog uprising.
On the 8th (local time) at the Livigno Snowpark in Italy, Kim Sanggyeom is biting his silver medal at the awards ceremony for the men's parallel giant slalom final at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics. Photo by Yonhap
On the 8th (local time) at Livigno Snowpark in Italy, during the medal ceremony for the men's parallel giant slalom snowboard at the 2026 Milano-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics, Kim Sanggyeom is performing a deep ceremonial bow before receiving the silver medal. Yonhap News
On the 8th (local time) at Livigno Snowpark in Sondrio, Italy, he finished 0.19 seconds behind Benjamin Karl of Austria in the men's snowboard parallel giant slalom final at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, but claimed a valuable silver medal. It was the first time Kim had stood on an Olympic podium, and he became the second Olympic medalist in the history of Korean snow events. It is also the first medal for Team Korea at these Games.
Kim Sanggyeom has etched his name in Korean sports history as the 400th Olympic medalist. Since Kim Seong-jip (weightlifting) won a bronze medal at the 1948 London Summer Olympics, Korea has collected a total of 400 Olympic medals: 80 at the Winter Games (33 gold, 31 silver, and 16 bronze) and 320 at the Summer Games (109 gold, 100 silver, and 111 bronze).
On the 8th (local time), Kim Sanggyeom, who competed in the men's snowboard parallel giant slalom final at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics held at Livigno Snowpark in Italy, is celebrating after securing the silver medal. Yonhap News
On the 8th (local time) at Livigno Snowpark in Italy, Kim Sanggyeom, who competed in the men's parallel giant slalom semifinal in snowboarding at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics, is celebrating after securing a place in the final. Yonhap News
Kim Sanggyeom (High1) recorded a combined time of 1 minute 27.18 seconds over the first and second qualifying runs, advancing to the round of 16 in eighth place. In the round of 16, he moved on to the quarterfinals after Slovenia's Zan Kosir fell in the latter part of the race, and in the quarterfinals he upset strong gold-medal favorite Roland Fischnaller of host nation Italy to reach the semifinals.
On the 8th (local time) at Livigno Snowpark in Italy, Kim Sanggyeom, who competed in the men's parallel giant slalom snowboard final at the 2026 Milano-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics, embraced the winner, Austrian Karl Benjamin, after securing the silver medal. Yonhap News
On the 8th (local time), at the Livigno Snowpark in Italy, Kim Sanggyeom, who competed in the semifinal of the men's parallel giant slalom snowboarding event at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics, is racing toward the finish line. Yonhap News
The semifinals produced another upset. His opponent was Bulgarian powerhouse Tervel Zampirov. Kim faced a crisis early on, falling far behind by a large margin, but the seasoned veteran's resilience emerged in the latter half. After entering the second section of the course, he began a ferocious charge and completed a dramatic come-from-behind victory just before the finish line. The margin of victory was 0.23 seconds. In the final, Kim initially pulled ahead of Karl but was narrowly overtaken just before the finish.
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