Para snowboarder Sun wins 14th gold for host China

CHONGLI, Zhangjiakou - Para snowboarder Sun Qi, 22, won the 14th gold for host China at the ongoing Beijing Winter Paralympics in the men's banked slalom SB-LL2 here on Friday.

Sun, who finished 11th in the event at PyeongChang 2018, dominated Friday's race with the time of one minute and 9.73 seconds in his first run.

It is the first Paralympic gold for Sun who began skiing at 16.

"I would like to give my first run 100 points. In the second run, because I saw the result of previous athletes and I know what I am doing, I just enjoyed it," said Sun.

"The medal is like a key starting the next chapter of my life. It encourages me to go forward, unafraid of difficulties. Because I did it this time, I believe I can do it next time," he added.

On bouncing back from finishing fourth in the snowboard cross earlier in the Games, Sun said, "It's a pity for me, the fourth place in the snowboarding cross. I got injured on my right clavicle when I competed in the world championships. That cast a shadow, more or less, for me on the jumping platform, which made me slower at that race.

"It's a pity. But it took me hours to walk out of that pity and make preparations for today's race," he noted.

Defending champion Matti Suur-Hamari from Finland, 35, got the silver in 1:09.98.

"Pretty awesome. I didn't really expect a medal from banked slalom because we haven't really trained that much in banked slalom, we put it all in snowboard cross," said Suur-Hamari, who had been crowned in the men's snowboard cross SB-LL2 at Beijing 2022 on Monday.

"Although the banked slalom was like a plus, I am always putting everything in when I'm on the course. I was lucky to put down that really good time on the first run," he added.

32-year-old Ollie Hill from Britain, who finished fourth in the event at the 2022 world championships in Norway, took the bronze in 1:10.45.

A Paralympic debutant, Hill said: "My target here was to enjoy myself, to get loads of experience and then in four years' time I wanted to come dominate."

All the top three made their best time of the race in their first runs.

The race witnessed a total of 25 riders from China, Finland, Britain, Canada, Japan, Australia, France, South Korea, Poland, Germany, Austria, Iran, and the United States.