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Snowboarder Lee Chae-un advances to men's halfpipe final

Published: 12 Feb. 2026, 08:43

Lee Chae-un of Korea competes in the men's halfpipe qualification at the Winter Olympics at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, Italy, on Feb. 11. [YONHAP]

Korean snowboard medal hopeful Lee Chae-un advanced to the final of the men's halfpipe event at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday.

Lee scored 82.00 points to rank ninth among 24 boarders in the qualification at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, Italy.

The top 12 qualified for the final set for Friday in Livigno.

In the qualification, each athlete performed two runs, and the better score of the two became their final score. They will each have three runs in the final, where the best score of the three will determine the rankings. They are evaluated on the degree of difficulty, height and execution of their acrobatic spins, flips and board grabs on a 22-foot, U-shaped ramp.

In both the qualification and the final, the highest and lowest of the six judges' scores are discarded.

Lee, the 2023 world champion and the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic gold medalist, will be competing in his first Olympic final. He didn't make it out of the qualification in his Olympic debut four years ago in Beijing.

Two other Koreans in action, Lee Ji-o and Kim Geon-hui, both missed out on the final. Lee finished 13th with 74.00 points, and Kim ranked 23rd with 8.50 points.

Scotty James of Australia, the 2022 silver medalist, won the qualification with 94.00 points, followed by Yuto Totsuka of Japan with 91.25 points. Ayumu Hirano of Japan, the defending champion, finished seventh with 85.50 points.

Yonhap