Home > Sports > Olympic Sports

Para snowboarder Lee Je-hyuk puts Beijing disappointment behind him with bronze in Milan

Published: 09 Mar. 2026, 14:32 Updated: 09 Mar. 2026, 15:49

Lee Je-hyuk celebrates after winning bronze in the men’s snowboard cross SB-LL2 final at Cortina Para Snow Park in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on March 7. [KOREA PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE]

MILAN ― Korean para snowboarder Lee Je-hyuk has turned the heartbreak of four years ago into a bronze medal at his second Paralympics.

Lee finished third behind Italy’s Emanuel Perathoner and Australia’s Ben Tudhope in the men’s snowboard cross SB-LL2 final on Saturday at Cortina Para Snowboard Park at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.

Snowboard cross is a high-speed event in which four riders race head-to-head over a course featuring jumps, banked turns, rollers and other obstacles. Lee competed in SB-LL2, one of para snowboard’s lower-limb impairment classes for athletes with below-knee amputation or significant functional impairment in one or both legs.

Lee was in fourth place until the latter stages of the race, when he crossed lines with Canada’s Alex Massie, who was running third, and narrowly avoided a collision. Lee managed to stay on his board, while Massie fell. It was the moment the bronze medal changed hands.

In Friday’s first qualification run, Lee clocked 51.74 seconds to place in a tie for sixth. He posted the same time in the second run and ranked fourth. The next day, he advanced through the quarterfinals after finishing first in Heat 3, then took second in the semifinal, 0.27 seconds behind Tudhope, to reach the four-man final. He then proudly claimed the bronze medal.

Lee had originally been an nondisabled snowboarder. He took up skateboarding after hearing it could help his snowboarding, but injured his ankle after missing a landing. At 15, he then suffered muscular damage in his ankle from a secondary infection and was left with an impairment. No longer able to pursue his dream as a snowboarder, he dropped out of high school and retired.

Lee Je-hyuk wins bronze in the men’s snowboard cross SB-LL2 final at Cortina Para Snow Park in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on March 7. [KOREA PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE]

He could hardly bear to look at a board, but at an acquaintance’s suggestion he watched the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in person. That gave him a new dream. He returned to the board six years later and remade himself as a para snowboarder. Within a year, he had begun to stand out at international events and established himself as Korea’s top para snowboarder.

However, he suffered disappointment at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. Confident of reaching the podium, he missed out on a medal in both snowboard cross and banked slalom. He had even prepared victory celebrations for his races, including football star Son Heung-min’s signature camera-click celebration, but never got to use them.

That disappointment four years ago made Lee stronger. He sharpened his competitiveness by competing in nondisabled events as well. Now that he has finally won a Paralympic medal, Lee will make another run at the podium in banked slalom on Saturday.

Lee Je-hyuk celebrates after winning bronze in the men’s snowboard cross SB-LL2 final at Cortina Para Snow Park in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on March 7. [KOREA PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE]

Meanwhile, Lee Chung-min and Jeong Su-min, who competed in the men’s snowboard cross SB-UL event, the para snowboard class for athletes with upper-limb impairments, failed to advance to the quarterfinals after finishing fourth and third in their respective heats in the round of 16.

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 KIM HYO-KYOUNG [[email protected]]