Will the 'first Korea medal' at the South Korean Winter Olympics be miraculous today (8th)? → Lee Sang-ho, the 'cabbage boy' who won the World Cup, tries to create Korean history! [Milan Olympics]

*This content was translated by AI.

Will the Korean team win its first medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina D'Ampezzo. 'Cabbage Boy' Lee Sang-ho (31, Nexen-Wingard) will finally appear.

Lee Sang-ho will compete in the men's parallel snowboarding competition at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics at 5:30 p.m. on the 8th (Korea time) at the Lvigno Snow Park in Lvigno, Italy. Lee Sang-ho will join Kim Sang-gyeom (High1), and Cho Wan-hee (Jeonbuk Ski Association). Jung Hae-rim (High1), the women's team, will play from 5 p.m. earlier.

The snowboard parallel competition is a one-on-one match in which the two players start simultaneously on two parallel writing courses (blue and red). The player who goes down the set course and passes the finish line first wins.

With a total of 32 participants, they must finish in the top 16 in the qualifying round to qualify for the tournament. If they advance to the tournament, they will play the round of 16, quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals (expected to be held at 10:36 p.m.) on the same evening.

There is a reason why Lee Sang-ho is expected to enter the medal. This is because Korea won a surprise medal in this event during the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Lee Sang-ho won the silver medal, becoming the first Korean snow sports to win a silver medal. Lee Sang-ho was nicknamed the "cabbage boy" after it became widely known that he grew up training in highland cabbage fields in Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do.

Then, unfortunately, he suffered in the 2022 Beijing Games. At that time, Lee Sang-ho seemed to be in his best condition by passing the preliminary round first. However, he lost to Viktor Wild (Russia) by 0.01 second in the quarterfinals and suffered a bitter cup of elimination (5th place) from the tournament.

Then I waited four years again. This is his third Olympic stage.

I'm already in the best shape. In particular, he beat veteran Roland Fischnaller of Italy by 0.24 seconds in the final of the Alpine Men's Parallel Competition at the 2025-2026 International Ski Federation (FIS) Snowboard World Cup held in Rogla, Slovenia, on the 31st of last month. It was the last World Cup just before the Olympics, so it was more meaningful.

The moment Lee Sang-ho won his fourth World Cup title. In addition, it was a feat made in about a year and 10 months since the Winterberg Games in Germany in March 2024.

After the game, Lee Sang-ho said through FIS, "It was this season that felt like the strongest players ever gathered. I thought I should pour more than 100% into this. I was very nervous, but I'm proud to have done it in the end. I really needed a win before I went to the Olympics. In fact, the beginning of this season was like the worst season for me," he said.

"I've used a lot of equipment for the Olympics. The only goal within this season is the Olympics, he said. "We finally did it ahead of the Olympics."

Lee Sang-ho had a fractured left wrist early last year. Since then, he has devoted himself to rehabilitation and won the title medal at the Slovenia World Cup after finishing fourth at the Austria World Cup on the 24th of last month.

If Lee Sang-ho harvests a medal, he writes history. He will be the first medal of the Korean team and the main character of the 400th medal in the Korean Olympics. According to the Korean Olympic Committee, South Korea has won a total of 399 medals so far after harvesting its first medal (a bronze medal for weightlifter Kim Sung-jip) at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

Lee Sang-ho said, "The preparations for the Olympics are completely over. I will continue my momentum and show you no regrets on the main stage," he said.

In addition, the team "Sun Young-seok," Kim Sun-young (Gangneung City Hall) and Jung Young-seok (Gangwon Provincial Office), who participated in the curling mix double, will try to win two games against Estonia at 6 p.m. on the same day. Earlier, they were defeated by Sweden (3-10), Italy (4-8), Switzerland (5-8), England (2-8), and Czech Republic (4-9). However, he won 6-5 against the U.S. in overtime on the 8th, succeeding in reviving the game. Now that I'm out, I'm trying to win two consecutive games.

From 8:30 p.m., Lee Joon-seo (Dankook University) will compete in the men's 20km (10km + 10km) skiathlon. Skiathlon is an event that uses both modes (classical and free) within a single cross-country competition. At 3:30 a.m., after midnight, Yoo Seung-eun (Sungbok High School) will participate in the snowboard women's big air preliminary match.

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*This content was translated by AI.