Korean skiing looked to the men’s parallel giant slalom held on the 8th for its first medal of the Milan·Cortina d’Ampezzo 2026 Winter Olympics. To be candid, the hopes were pinned on ‘Cabbage Boy’ Lee Sang-ho (Nexen Winguard), who claimed the country’s first-ever snow event medal (silver) at Pyeongchang 2018.

However, Lee Sang-ho was eliminated in the round of 16, the first single-heat knockout of the men’s parallel giant slalom held that day at Livigno Snow Park in Italy. Even then, hardly anyone focused on Kim Sang-gyeom (37·High1).

Kim Sang-gyeom, the ‘elder statesman’ of Korea’s snow disciplines, produced a stunner. By hanging a silver around his neck, he became the athlete to deliver South Korea’s first medal of these Games. In the final, he lost to Benjamin Karl (Austria) by 0.19 seconds to take silver. With ace Lee Sang-ho gone early, the veteran delivered both his own first Olympic medal and the country’s first medal of the Games. It is only the country’s second medal in snow events, after Lee Sang-ho.

His medal is also etched in history as South Korea’s 400th overall Olympic medal across Summer and Winter (by medal tally). To date, the nation has won 320 at the Summer Olympics (109 gold, 100 silver, 111 bronze) and 80 at the Winter Olympics (33 gold, 31 silver, 16 bronze).

Kim’s silver ranks among the most stunning in Korea’s Winter Olympic quest, comparable to Mo Tae-bum’s at Vancouver 2010 in speed skating. Making his Olympic debut then, Mo blazed to gold in the men’s 500ｍ, securing the country’s ‘first-ever Winter Olympic speed skating gold’. Public expectations had leaned more toward top-ranked Lee Kang-seok and Lee Kyou-hyuk than the then-world No. 14 Mo. Riding the momentum, Mo added silver in his main event, the 1000ｍ, laying the groundwork for Korea’s best-ever finish (5th overall; 6 gold, 6 silver, 2 bronze).

In qualifying, Kim recorded a combined 1 minute 27.18 seconds over his first and second runs to advance to the finals in eighth. Luck was with him early. The parallel giant slalom is a race where two snowboarders ride side by side to test their speed. First, 32 athletes run each of the two courses once, and the top 16 by combined time advance to the finals. From the round of 16, single-heat head-to-head races decide the winners and ultimately the medals.

In both the round of 16 and the quarterfinals, Kim advanced when his opponents went off course, becoming the protagonist of an upset. Notably in the quarters he met Roland Fischnaller (Italy), a battle-hardened veteran ranked No. 1 in the world in this event. Fischnaller also topped qualifying overall and was tabbed as a prime gold-medal favorite.

In the semifinals, Kim’s racing gained confidence. He edged the challenge of 2005-born Tervel Zampirov (Bulgaria) by 0.23 seconds. In the final, he quietly aimed for Korea’s first-ever snow-sport gold, but the opponent was too strong. Karl was the reigning champion in this event from the last Beijing Games. He also took bronze at the 2024 Sochi Games. Midway through the race Kim briefly moved in front, but he couldn’t protect the lead in the final sprint.

In the early 2000s, Kim was a highly touted prospect in the snowboard alpine events (parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom), where the domestic talent pool was thin. At Sochi 2014 he and Shin Bong-sik became the first Korean athletes to compete in both PGS and PSL. Yet he long remained a ‘perennial prospect’, unable to easily close the gap to the world’s elite. His best at the World Championships was fourth in PGS in 2021. With the rise of Lee Sang-ho, six years his junior, he also had to cede the ‘face of the team’ mantle.

But he never gave up, and on his fourth Olympic attempt he finally climbed the podium. In an interview with Olympic broadcaster JTBC, Kim said, “Thanks to Sang-ho, we competed within the team and created synergy, which brought me this far. Because Sang-ho delivered results and put Korea on the map, I was able to come this far,” giving credit to his teammate.

Born in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, Kim ran track in elementary school and nurtured his dream of becoming a snowboarder after entering a middle school with a snowboarding team. “Snowboarding is my life,” he said. After graduating from university, with no corporate team to join and even his livelihood under threat, he worked on construction sites in order to keep riding. Meeting the moment he had dreamed of, Kim thought of all those to whom he felt grateful and bowed as he stepped onto the podium.

Expressing gratitude to his wife for waiting so long and moved to tears, Kim said, “My family gave me so much strength that I could persevere to the end without quitting,” adding, “I want to hang this medal around my mother’s, father’s, and my wife’s necks.” He went on, “There will be many challenges ahead, but if I keep at it, better results will come,” speaking of a late-bloomer’s dream.

In fact, in snowboard alpine, a late-30s age is not an obstacle. Many veterans occupy the sport’s global top tier. Both Karl, his opponent in the final, and Fischnaller, whom he faced in the quarterfinals, are in their 40s.