Home > Sports > Olympic Sports

Teen snowboarder captures first career World Cup medal with Olympics just around the corner

Published: 14 Dec. 2025, 13:06

Korean snowboarder Yu Seung-eun poses with her silver medal won in the women's big air event at the International Ski Federation Snowboard World Cup in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, on Dec. 13. [KOREA SKI SNOWBOARD ASSOCIATION]

Teenage snowboarder Yu Seung-eun has won her first career World Cup medal in the women's big air, with her first Winter Olympics fast approaching.

Yu grabbed silver in her discipline with 173.25 points at the International Ski Federation Snowboard World Cup in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, on Saturday. Miyabi Onitsuka of Japan just beat out the Korean for the gold with 174.00 points.

Ally Hickman of Australia finished third with 162.25 points.

Yu, 17, had the second-highest score in the qualification phase with 89.75 points and maintained her strong form for the podium finish. She is the first South Korean snowboarder to win a World Cup medal in big air.

Big air made its Olympic debut in Korea at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games. Boarders drop into the ramp and launch off one big jump to perform flips and spins. They are judged on difficulty, execution, height and distance of their jumps and their landing.

Yu is the second Korean snowboarder to win a World Cup medal in the past three days, joining fellow 17-year-old Choi Gaon, who won the women's halfpipe title in China on Friday.

The strong recent form of the two teenagers bodes well for Korea's medal hopes at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.

Korea so far has earned just one Olympic medal in snowboard, which was silver by Lee Sang-ho in the men's parallel giant slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Yonhap