Choi Ga-on celebrates winning his Snowboard World Cup debut

First Korean athlete to win halfpipe

Japan's reversal to power with a perfect second period

After reaching the top of the International Ski Federation Snowboard World Cup on the 17th, Choi Ga-on is taking a photo commemorating his World Cup debut victory with his board in front of him. 

Choi Ga-on (15, Sehwa Girls' Middle School, photo) won her debut at the International Ski Federation (FIS) Snowboard World Cup.

Choi Ga-on won the event in Copper, Colorado, USA on the 17th. In the 2023-2024 season FIS Snowboard World Cup halfpipe women's final held in Mt. Mountain, she received 92.75 points and took the top spot in the competition. This is the second time in history that a Korean athlete has won the Snowboard World Cup, following ‘Cabbage Boy’ Lee Sang-ho (28, Nexen Wingard) in December 2021. Choi Ga-on is the first in the halfpipe event. Lee Sang-ho won the alpine event.

Choi Ga-on was deducted points in the first period of the finals for a grab (moving to hold the board in the air) and an unstable landing, so he finished in second place (80.00 points), 4.75 points behind Mitsuki Ono (19, Japan). . However, in the second period, he successfully performed 720-degree (two turns in the air) and 900-degree (two and a half turns) rotation skills and received 92.75 points, beating Ohno, who scored 90.00 points. Halfpipe is an event where points are awarded based on the completeness of the aerial performance shown while descending a semi-cylindrical slope. Ranking is based on the highest score among the three periods.

Choi Ga-on said, “I am very happy to win the World Cup in my first appearance. He said, “In the first period, I couldn’t exceed Ohno’s score, so I decided, ‘I need to perfect my technique more in the second period,’ and I got good results.” Ohno, who finished second, is a strong player who has reached the top of the FIS World Cup three times and won gold medals at the 2018 and 2019 Junior World Championships and the 2020 Lausanne Youth Olympic Games in Switzerland. After winning the Junior World Championships last year, Choi Ga-on has been on the rise, breaking the record of 'genius border' Chloe Kim (23, USA) as the youngest winner at the X Games, a superpipe competition, in January of this year, and surpassing Ohno in this World Cup. I stood.

In the men's halfpipe finals on this day, Lee Chae-woon (17, Surigo High School) received 80.00 points and took second place. First place went to Japan's Ayumu Hirano (25), who scored 91.00 points. Lee Chae-woon reached the podium for the second consecutive World Cup, following his bronze medal win at the China competition held on the 8th. Choi Ga-on and Lee Chae-un will compete with the Taegeuk symbol at the Gangwon Youth Olympics, which opens on the 19th of next month. 스포츠토토맨