Snowboarding 2018/Men's parallel giant slalom

Men's parallel giant slalom
General information
Sport	Snowboarding 2018
Date	24 February 2018
Competitors	32 athletes
Venue	Phoenix Snow Park
Previous medalists
Gold	Vic Wild
Silver	Nevin Galmarini
Bronze	Zan Kosir
Conditions
Temperature	-1°C / 30.2°F
Length	595 metres
Height	155 metres
Forerunners
Forerunner	Hong Seung-yeong South Korea
Forerunner	Cho Wan-hee South Korea
Forerunner	Shin Seok-jin South Korea
Forerunner	Kwon Yong-hwi South Korea
Medalists
	Nevin Galmarini
	Lee Sang-ho
	Zan Kosir

The men's parallel giant slalom of Snowboarding 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 24 February 2018 in the Phoenix Snow Park. With 32 athletes competing, the event was won by Nevin Galmarini from Switzerland, with Lee Sang-ho from South Korea taking the silver medal and Zan Kosir from Slovenia taking bronze.

Format

The competition exists out of two separate phases. In the qualification phase, athletes run down both the red and the blue lane to ensure a certain ranking. The 16 competitors with the fastest combined time qualify for the knock-out phase. In this phase, competitors are matched based on ranking, and with a traditional knock-out system the winner is decided, with each winner advancing to the next round. The athlete who wins the final is the winner.

Preview

Thirty-two athletes qualified for the event, with Vic Wild as defending Olympic champion, although the biggest favorite for this edition was Swiss Nevin Galmarini, who won the silver medal in the previous edition, and who has had a great season thus far. His biggest rival in the season was world champion Andreas Prommegger, although he hadn't been as consistent as the former in the previous season. Other medal contenders were Alex Payer and Benjamin Karl, although Radoslav Yankov, Edwin Coratti and Andrey Sobolev were snowboarders to be reckoned with.

Summary

Qualification

The sixteen athletes with the fastest combined time of two runs would go to the next round, and after two runs, Nevin Galmarini was sure of a place in the next round, almost 0.2 seconds faster than the bronze medalist of four years before, Zan Kosir. Local favorite Lee Sang-ho surprised with the third combined time, while Sylvain Dufour and Alexander Payer completed the top 5. Out of the medal contenders, Andrey Sobolev and Radoslav Yankov only finished 18th and 19th, causing the competition to lose two medal contenders early in the competition.

Qualification Results
Rank	Nat.	Name	Blue	Red	Time
1		Nevin Galmarini	41.73	43.05	1:24.78
2		Zan Kosir	42.03	42.94	1:24.97
3		Lee Sang-ho	42.16	42.90	1:25.06
4		Sylvain Dufour	41.92	43.35	1:25.27
5		Alexander Payer	42.43	42.87	1:25.30
6		Benjamin Karl	43.21	42.12	1:25.33
7		Stefan Baumeister	42.07	43.30	1:25.37
8		Roland Fischnaller	43.94	41.50	1:25.44
9		Vic Wild	43.50	42.01	1:25.51
10		Sebastian Kislinger	43.47	42.12	1:25.59
11		Andreas Prommegger	42.20	43.47	1:25.67
12		Edwin Coratti	42.37	43.33	1:25.70
13		Oskar Kwiatkowski	42.84	42.88	1:25.72
14		Dmitry Sarsembaev	43.02	42.72	1:25.73
15		Kim Sang-kyum	42.84	43.04	1:25.88
16		Tim Mastnak	43.15	42.82	1:25.97
17		Rok Marguc	43.78	42.20	1:25.98
18		Andrey Sobolev	42.35	43.64	1:25.99
19		Radoslav Yankov	43.48	42.56	1:26.04
20		Aaron Muss	44.12	41.98	1:26.10
21		Kaspar Fluetsch	43.10	43.16	1:26.26
22		Dario Caviezel	43.69	42.70	1:26.39
23		Aaron March	45.19	41.39	1:26.58
24		Jasey Jay Anderson	42.99	43.77	1:26.76
25		Patrick Bussler	42.99	43.78	1:26.77
26		Choi Bo-gun	43.52	43.26	1:26.78
27		Masaki Shiba	44.00	42.91	1:26.91
28		Darren Gardner	43.97	42.97	1:26.94
29		Mirko Felicetti	45.29	42.27	1:27.56
30		Michael Trapp	44.05	44.09	1:28.14
31		Alexander Bergmann	46.11	43.14	1:29.25
32		Dmitry Loginov	48.68	42.32	1:31.00

Round 1

The first heat was set between fourth seed Sylvain Dufour and thirteenth seed Oskar Kwiatkowski. After a close race, in which Kwiatkowski was playing catchup the entire time, Dufour managed to stay ahead of his rival, albeit only with 0.1 seconds. The second heat, between fifth seed Alexander Payer and twelfth seed Edwin Coratti, was a bit less close. Against the odds of the qualification, Coratti was able to catch up on Payer, despite a slower start, winning by a third of a second over the latter. The third heat pitched eighth seed Roland Fischnaller against reigning Olympic champion and ninth seed Vic Wild. Despite a close start, Fischnaller was able to race away from Wild in the last part of the race, winning the race by almost a second. The last heat in the first half was between top seed Nevin Galmarini and sixteenth seed Tim Mastnak. Galmarini set up a small advantage in the start of the race, and despite increasing his lead in the middle part of the track, Mastnak caught up on some of this time in the last part, leaving only a 0.4 seconds deficit between the two.

The fifth race was set between second seed Zan Kosir and fifteenth seed Kim San-kyum. Despite getting the local support, Kim had a slower start than Kosir, and he kept his disadvantage throughout the entire race, running up to over a second deficit. In the next round, Kosir would have to race against the winner of the race between seventh seed Stefan Baumeister and tenth seed Sebastian Kislinger. This was a close race, with the difference never been more than 0.25 seconds, finally deciding in favor of the German. The penultimate race was a Austrian rivalry between Benjamin Karl and Andreas Prommegger. Karl had the advantage at the start, increasing this to almost 0.7 seconds after two third of the race. At the finish line, this advantage had shrunk to almost 0.3 seconds, though still in favor of Karl. The last race was between local favorite and third seed Lee Sang-ho and fourteenth seed Dmitry Sarsembaev. With the local crowd behind him, Kim pulled away after the first part of the race, leaving more than half a second between the two riders.

Round 1 Results
	Result	Result
Sylvain Dufour	Q	+0.10	Oskar Kwiatkowski
Alexander Payer	+0.33	Q	Edwin Coratti
Roland Fischnaller	Q	+0.93	Vic Wild
Nevin Galmarini	Q	+0.38	Tim Mastnak
Zan Kosir	Q	+1.14	Kim Sang-kyum
Stefan Baumeister	Q	+0.22	Sebastian Kislinger
Benjamin Karl	Q	+0.29	Andreas Prommegger
Lee Sang-ho	Q	+0.54	Dmitry Sarsembaev

Quarterfinals

The first quarterfinal was between fourth seed Sylvain Dufour and twelfth seed Erwin Coratti, and considering Dufour made some wide turns at the start of the race, Coratti had the faster start. The race stayed very close throughout the entire race, but Dufour managed to clinch the victory by only 0.2 seconds. The second quarterfinal was between first seed Nevin Galmarini and eighth seed Roland Fischnaller. Galmarini was the big favorite to win the gold medal and go through to the semifinals, and his start proved that, winning almost 0.5 seconds over Fischnaller. However, throughout the race, Fischnaller was able to fight back, losing only 0.06 seconds at the finish line.

The third quarterfinal put second seed Zan Kosir against seventh seed Stefan Baumeister. Baumeister made some mistakes, going wide on several gates, losing over three seconds throughout the race. The last quarterfinal set local favorite Lee Sang-ho against sixth seed Benjamin Karl, and Lee was able to lead the race from the start, increasing the difference between the two riders gradually, leaving almost a second at the finish line.

Quarterfinals Results
	Result	Result
Sylvain Dufour	Q	+0.19	Edwin Coratti
Nevin Galmarini	Q	+0.06	Roland Fischnaller
Zan Kosir	Q	+3.07	Stefan Baumeister
Lee Sang-ho	Q	+0.94	Benjamin Karl

Semifinals

The semifinals saw the four fastest snowboarders in the qualification round against each other, of which three were ensured to win a medal. With the first semifinal setting first seed Nevin Galmarini against fourth seed Sylvain Dufour, and Galmarini kept a steady lead of around 0.2 seconds over Dufour, until the latter missed an edge on the course, causing him to miss a gate, securing Galmarini of a place in the big final. The second semifinal saw second seed Zan Kosir against third seed Lee Sang-ho. Kosir having the faster start, Lee was able to catch up throughout the competition, catching up to Kosir right at the finish line, winning by only 0.01 seconds.

Semifinals Results
	Result	Result
Nevin Galmarini	Q	DNF	Sylvain Dufour
Zan Kosir	+0.01	Q	Lee Sang-ho

Finals

The small final between Zan Kosir and Sylvain Dufour and the winner would win the bronze medal, just as Kosir had done four years before. Kosir had a slightly faster start, Dufour was able to turn this around in the middle section, leading by 0.05 seconds. In the last part, Dufour hit a gate, losing a big amount of speed, leaving the win (and the bronze medal) to Kosir.

Small Final
	Result	Result
Zan Kosir		+1.49	Sylvain Dufour

The big final was set between favorite Nevin Galmarini and local hero Lee Sang-ho. Galmarini would be able to upgrade his silver medal of four years before to a gold one, while Lee could become the first Korean snowboarder to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. Galmarini had a good start, getting a half a second lead after the first part of the track, while Lee took half of this off after the middle (less steep) part. At the finish line, this lead was extended to almost half a second again, leaving the local favorite to the silver medal, while Galmarini became the Olympic champion.

Big Final
	Result	Result
Nevin Galmarini		+0.43	Lee Sang-ho

Results

Nevin Galmarini won his second Olympic medal, after winning silver at the same event in 2014. Lee Sang-ho won the first medal for South Korea in Olympic snowboarding, following Yun Sung-bin by winning the first medals in non-skating sports. Zan Kosir won his second consecutive bronze medal in the parallel giant slalom, with another silver medal in the parallel slalom in Sochi, as yet the only Slovenian snowboarder to have won a medal. Sylvain Dufour earned his best result in three Olympic appearances, while Benjamin Karl, who was ultimately ranked fifth due to his time in the ranking rounds, missed the chance to win medals in three consecutive Olympic Games.

Result	Athlete	Nationality
	Nevin Galmarini	Switzerland
	Lee Sang-ho	South Korea
	Zan Kosir	Slovenia
4	Sylvain Dufour	France
5	Benjamin Karl	Austria
6	Stefan Baumeister	Germany
7	Roland Fischnaller	Italy
8	Edwin Coratti	Italy
9	Alexander Payer	Austria
10	Vic Wild	Olympic Athletes from Russia
11	Sebastian Kislinger	Austria
12	Andreas Prommegger	Austria
13	Oskar Kwiatkowski	Poland
14	Dmitry Sarsembaev	Olympic Athletes from Russia
15	Kim Sang-kyum	South Korea
16	Tim Mastnak	Slovenia
17	Rok Marguc	Slovenia
18	Andrey Sobolev	Olympic Athletes from Russia
19	Radoslav Yankov	Bulgaria
20	Aaron Muss	United States
21	Kaspar Fluetsch	Switzerland
22	Dario Caviezel	Switzerland
23	Aaron March	Italy
24	Jasey Jay Anderson	Canada
25	Patrick Bussler	Germany
26	Choi Bo-gun	South Korea
27	Masaki Shiba	Japan
28	Darren Gardner	Canada
29	Mirko Felicetti	Italy
30	Michael Trapp	United States
31	Alexander Bergmann	Germany
32	Dmitry Loginov	Olympic Athletes from Russia