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From Pyeongchang's slopes to the Alps, snowboarder Kim Sang-kyum makes history with Olympic silver

Published: 09 Feb. 2026, 10:24 Updated: 09 Feb. 2026, 15:41

Kim Sang-kyum cheers during the men's snowboard parallel giant slalom quarterfinal at Livigno Snow Park during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, in Livigno, on Feb. 8. [KIM JONG-HO]

Kim Sang-kyum, a 37-year-old snowboarder born in Korea's mountainous region of Pyeongchang, Gangwon, and raised in Bongpyeong, has etched his name in Korea’s Olympic history.

Kim became the face of the nation’s 400th Olympic medal across the Summer and Winter Games, made all the more meaningful by the fact that it was earned in the Alps, considered the heartland of snow sports.

Kim won a hard-earned silver medal Sunday in the men’s snowboard parallel giant slalom at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics, held at Livigno Snow Park in Italy. In the final, he narrowly lost to Austria’s Benjamin Karl by 0.19 seconds, but delivered a nail-biting race to the very end.

It was the Korean team’s first medal of the Games, but its significance goes beyond that. It was also Korea’s 400th Olympic medal, a landmark achievement. Korea’s first Olympic medal came at the 1948 London Olympics, when the late Kim Seong-jip won bronze in middleweight weightlifting.

At the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, Kim Yoon-man became Korea’s first medalist in a winter sport by taking silver in the men’s 1,000-meter speed skating event. Since then, Korea has collected 320 medals at the Summer Games, with 109 gold, 100 silver and 111 bronze, and 79 at the Winter Games, with 33 gold, 30 silver and 16 bronze. Kim Sang-kyum has now nabbed the country's medal No. 400.

Born in 1989, Kim is a veteran appearing at his fourth Olympic competition. In many sports, 37 is an age when retirement comes into view, but the parallel giant slalom is different. Results hinge less on raw stamina than on refined board control, technique and experience.

That was evident at these Games, where many over-40 veterans competed, including Karl, as well as Roland Fischnaller, 46, of Italy, and Andreas Prommegger, 46, of Austria, showing they still had plenty left.

Kim Sang-kyum celebrates with attendees after beating out Bulgaria's Tervel Zamfirov during the men's snowboarding parallel giant slalom finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, on Feb. 8. [AP/YONHAP]

Kim Sang-kyum cheers during the snowboard men's parallel giant slalom quarter final at Livigno Snow Park during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, in Livigno, on Feb. 8. [KIM JONG-HO]

A true Gangwon native, Kim attended elementary, middle and high school in Bongpyeong. His snowboarding journey began, ironically, due to having a weak body as child. After suffering from severe asthma , his parents urged him to take up track and field to build his stamina. He first hit the slopes in his second year of middle school, when a snowboarding club was formed at his school. The many slopes of his hometown were, for him, like a backyard playground.

Kim became Korea’s first gold medalist on the international stage in snowboarding by winning the Winter Universiade in 2011. Riding that momentum, he has competed at four straight Olympics, Sochi in 2014, PyeongChang in 2018, Beijing in 2022 and now Milan-Cortina in 2026.

But breaking through against the formidable Europeans and North Americans was never easy. He failed to advance past the preliminaries in Sochi and Beijing, and in PyeongChang, he fell short of reaching the round of 16.

On the slopes of Livigno, with the Alps as a backdrop, he finally let go of years of frustration.

Before the race, much of the spotlight had been on Lee Sang-ho. Lee was seen as a leading gold contender after winning a World Cup title ahead of the Games, and he is also the trailblazer, having won Korea’s first-ever medal in a snow event at the PyeongChang Olympics.

Kim Sang-kyum competes in the snowboard men's parallel giant slalom quarter final at Livigno Snow Park during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, in Livigno, on Feb. 8. [AFP/YONHAP]

Kim Sang-kyum lifts his snowboard into the air after he finishes his performance during the snowboard men's parallel giant slalom quarter final at Livigno Snow Park during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, in Livigno, on Feb. 8. [KIM JONG-HO]

Kim, however, stayed composed and waited for his moment.

“There were many difficult moments in my career, and I’ve felt defeated when things didn’t go my way,” Kim said. “But each time, I tried to change things by finding new training methods.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KO BONG-JUN [[email protected]]