Snowboarder Wu wins banked slalom SB-LL1 for China's 13th gold at Beijing Paralympics
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E-mail Xinhua, March 11, 2022
China's snowboarder Wu Zhongwei finished first in both runs to snatch the men's banked slalom SB-LL1 title to give the host the 13th gold medal at the Beijing Paralympics on Friday.
The result of one minute and 11.92 seconds in the first run was good enough for the 26-year-old Wu to secure the gold, but he improved his performance in the second run in 1:10.85, 1.21 seconds ahead of PyeongChang 2018's silver medalist Chris Vos from the Netherlands, who placed second in both runs.
"I have been [performing] strong in banked slalom. Prior to my second run, my coach had told me the victory was sealed already, but I preferred to continue to try my best, to excel myself," said Wu. "I want to see if I can do better, and it turned out I actually did better in the second run."
Vos aimed to win the gold, but a silver is good enough for his efforts. "I really felt good. I was going for the gold medal, for sure. I gave everything I had. I tried everything and I can be proud of what I did today. The Chinese (Wu Zhongwei) was just faster," said the four-time world champion since 2015.
"I always go for gold but it just feels really good after the snowboard cross [last Monday] where I got fourth and just missed a medal but I have a medal right now," Vos commented.
"[It's about] fighting to the end and trying to get the best out of yourself. I just did two really good runs and I'm happy that it was enough for a medal."
The third place went to Tyler Turner. The 33-year-old Canadian had won the cross SB-LL1, in which he outperformed Wu. But on Friday, Turner was nearly 2 seconds behind Wu.
"My heart's still beating; this is the most stressed [moment] I've been all week. It was intensive," said Turner, who didn't expect to stand on the podium. "It was a lot of pressure; I was feeling the stress. That was a long, stressful day. I was relieved when I finished."
"I was showing up with no expectations here [today] and so it just feels different. I'm just so happy right now. This is a bonus. This is massive."
Also on Friday, Sun Qi, 22, added the 14th gold for host China in men's banked slalom SB-LL2.
China's Geng Yanhong and Li Tiantian reached the podium in women's banked slalom SB-LL2, finishing second and third respectively. The gold medal went to American Brenna Huckaby.
In the men's banked slalom SB-UL event, Chinese pair Ji Lijia and Zhu Yonggang settled with silver and bronze after Maxime Montaggioni of France. Montaggioni overtook 19-year-old Ji with a slight 0.45-second advantage through a strong second run.
