Lee Chae-woon (Surigao) won bronze in the men’s halfpipe at the International Ski Federation (FIS) Snowboard World Cup.
Lee finished third in the men’s halfpipe final at the 2023-2024 FIS Snowboard World Cup in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, China, with a score of 87.50 points on Monday.
First place went to Scotty James (AUS) with 91.25 points and second to Luka Hirano (JPN) with 88.25 points.
Lee won the snowboard halfpipe at the FIS Freestyle-Snowboarding World Championships in Georgia in March, becoming the first Korean athlete to win a world championship gold medal.
At the World Cup, a fourth-place finish in the halfpipe at the U.S. and Canada Games in February was his best result, and this was his first World Cup medal.
Lee, born in 2006, finished sixth in the men’s big air at the Snowboard World Cup in Beijing, China, on March 3.
He is expected to be a gold medal favorite at the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon Province.
An official from the Korea Ski Association said, “He showed off the triple-cock 1440 trick he practiced in Switzerland in the third period,” adding, “It wasn’t a ‘full run’ where he used all his skills, so we expect better results in future competitions.”
Snowboard halfpipe is ranked by judges based on aerial performances, including spins and jumps, on a tilted, semi-cylindrical slope.
It’s an Olympic gold medal-winning discipline that has produced some of the world’s biggest stars, including Shaun White and Chloe Kim (USA).
James, who won the event, is a silver medalist in the event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, while Hirano, who finished second, won the event at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games.
Ayumu Hirano (JPN), who won gold at last year’s Beijing Olympics, finished ninth on the day with 50.75 points. 슬롯게이밍