Duet on the Snow

“Swish~.”

The sharp metallic tone of the snowboard edge sounds lively digging into the snow that had fallen overnight.

The winners of the intense race punched their fists in the air while the losers lowered their heads. After the race, however, all players shook hands and hugged each other for encouragement. These youth have a special sense of sportsmanship.

This is the Mega Green Slope at Yongpyeong Ski Resort on the second day of the first KTF Cup National Snowboard Championship (hosted by Dong-A Ilbo, supervised by Seoul Ski Association, sponsored by KTF). Unlike the previous day’s GS (Giant Slalom), a PGS (Parallel Giant Slalom) event took place, increasing the thrill by watching two snowboarders descend the slope at once.

The PGS, which is a one-by-one tournament, is played in the following manner: throughout a set of two races each, the loser of the previous race is given a penalty that corresponds to the time by which he lost. For example, if player A crosses the finish line in the first race at 29 seconds and player B at 30 seconds, player B is given a penalty in the second race and the gate opens for him one second later than player A. If the time difference is greater than 1.5 seconds in the fist race, then a penalty of 1.5 seconds at most is given in the second race. The player who crosses the finish line first in the second race is the winner.

In the round of 32 in the men’s games, national team members Yoon Dong-hyuk and Ki Myung-gon easily advanced to the round of 16, and in the women’s games Cho Tae-jung, and national team members Shin Da-hye, Kim Ji-eun and Choi Yoon-young advanced to the semi-finals. The winners of both parts will be determined on January 8, the last day of the championship.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com