Yoo Seung-eun Finishes 12th in Slopestyle, Returns Home with Big Air Bronze

Yoo Seung-eun (18, Seongbok High School), who aimed for multiple medals at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics, finished in 12th place.

Yoo scored 34.18 points in the women's snowboard slopestyle final held at Livigno Snow Park in Italy on January 18 (Korea time), finishing last among 12 competitors. She fell during all three runs and failed to record a proper score.

The final, originally scheduled for January 17, was postponed by one day due to heavy snowfall. In her first run, Yoo landed unstably after falling off the third rail. She also fell during the final landing of her second run.

Needing to complete a flawless run with all high-difficulty tricks in her third attempt to win a medal, Yoo started shakily from the first rail and fell on the next rail, abandoning her run midway.

Slopestyle became an official Olympic event at the 2014 Sochi Games. The event involves navigating a course consisting of various features including rails and jumps. Athletes must complete all six sections to receive a score. While different from big air in course layout and performance style, slopestyle also includes sections where athletes launch off jumps to perform aerial tricks. This is why many athletes compete in both events. Yoo returns home with her big air bronze medal.

The gold medal went to Mari Fukada (19, Japan) with a score of 87.83 points. Defending champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (25, New Zealand) took silver with 87.48 points, while Kokomo Murase (22, Japan) won bronze with 85.80 points. Murase is the big air gold medalist at this competition.

As of today, Japan has collected 5 gold, 6 silver, and 11 bronze medals. With 22 total medals, Japan has surpassed its 18-medal haul from the 2022 Beijing Games (3 gold, 7 silver, 8 bronze), continuously breaking its all-time medal record.

Japan has tied its single-Games record of 5 gold medals set at the home 1998 Nagano Games (1 silver, 4 bronze), securing its best Olympic performance ever in both quantity and quality.

In the men's slopestyle final held earlier in the day, China's Su Yiming won gold with 82.41 points. Japan's Taiga Hasegawa (82.13 points) and American Jake Canter (79.36 points) took silver and bronze respectively.

The slopestyle event concluded all snowboard competitions at this Games. South Korea achieved its best Olympic snowboard results ever, with Choi Ga-on (Sehwa Girls' High School) winning gold in women's halfpipe, Kim Sang-kyeom (High1) taking silver in men's parallel giant slalom, and Yoo Seung-eun capturing bronze in women's big air.