'Su-per' Yiming chases title of 'snowboard king'

For Su Yiming, who has dreamed of becoming the "snowboard king" since age nine, nothing but an Olympic gold medal will make the perfect gift for his 18th birthday.

With two stunning 1800 performances in his first two runs, Su grabbed his first Olympic title in the men's snowboard big air final on Tuesday, adding to the slopestyle silver he took earlier at the Beijing Winter Games.

Su's lead after two runs was irreversible so that the final run became a victory lap for him to simply enjoy the moment amid thunderous applause and cheers from the local crowd.

"This is a very special moment for me. Since a very young age I've had this dream to be able to compete in the Winter Olympics held in my motherland. With a lot of hard work I made it," said Su, who turns 18 on Friday.

It may have looked easy for Su to upgrade his silver into gold in only eight days, but it required much more than just talent for him to be able to ride with the best.

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Born in northeast China's Jilin Province, Su's parents took him to ski resorts when he was just a toddler. With years of skiing experience, hip parents then switched to snowboarding and became China's earliest snowboarders.

That was probably why Su had a natural feeling for snow, so much that he could spend all day outside in snow, standing on his father's snowboard and having lots of fun.

"He didn't want to go home at all," said Su's father, Su Qun. "He would cry to go outside again in just five minutes."

When he turned four, Su received his first snowboard and started to learn snowboarding. Despite being even shorter than the board, Su managed to slide down on his own very quickly.

Just two years later, Su had already made such huge progress that it became difficult for his father to catch up with his speed. And ever since then, Su has not taken the snowboard off his feet, no matter winter or summer, day or night.

As an elementary student though, Su still had to go to school and finish his homework at the same time.

"We've come to an agreement," said Su Qun. "As long as he finished all the school work, he could go snowboarding as he wanted. No extracurricular classes, no additional assignments."

"He would finish his homework with such high efficiency, wasting no time on things other than snowboarding."

"If there was a chance for me to take up snowboarding as a career, I would do it and do it in the best possible way I can," said Su in an interview when he was 13 years old.

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Gradually, Su started taking part in competitions against adults and traveling all over the world to train in a better environment, during which he learned to speak fluent English and gained lots of experiences dealing with all kinds of situations.

Known as a talented young snowboarder, Su was more famous for his roles in multiple movies and TV series outside the snowboard world back then, until the Chinese national team came to recruit him in 2017, two years after China won the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

It was a tough decision to make, but Su eventually chose snowboarding over becoming a movie star because he "wanted to compete in the Olympics."

"He went to the national team with a clear goal - to become the best and to represent China at the Winter Olympics," said Su Qun. "We were also well-aware of what it takes to become a professional athlete. But as long as he loves it, we have his back."

With full support from his parents and help from renowned Japanese coach Yasuhiro Sato, Su was determined to become his best self.

In 2019, Su made his Junior World Championships debut and finished 23rd and 43rd in Big Air and slopestyle, respectively. Later that year, Su ranked 11th in his World Cup debut in Beijing.

At the Big Air World Cup in Steamboat, the United States in December 2021, Su claimed the first World Cup title in his career and became the first-ever Chinese rider to stand on the podium in either big air or slopestyle, as well as the first rider ever to land an 1800 both ways in a FIS competition.

Just two months later, Su won a gold and a silver in his Olympic debut. After his Big Air victory, a video of little Su, in third grade, riding on the snow went viral on social media, in which he said "staying strong and persistent, I will become the king of the snowboard."

Now at 17 years 363 days, Su has lived up to his words, soaring into the sky and setting a list of records.

The youngest Chinese athlete and the first Chinese snowboarder to win a gold medal at the Winter Games, the youngest male big air medalist at the Olympic Winter Games, the second-youngest Olympic champion in men's snowboard.

But for this wonder youngster, it has only just begun.

"I realized the dream I've had since I was a kid. I've always dreamed about winning this gold medal before 18 years old. I did it," said Su after the Big Air competition.

"I also want everyone to know that I can not only be good at one thing, but I can be the best at anything I like. I've learned a lesson that hard work would never lie. Today I proved it."

AFP