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[ESPN – Staff Writer] High school snowboarding sensation Yoo Seung-eun (Seongbok High School) made waves with a historic performance.
On February 10, Yoo clinched bronze with a total score of 171.00 points in the women’s big air final at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, held at Livigno Snowpark, Italy. This marks South Korea’s second medal of the Games, following Kim Sang-gyeom’s bronze in the men’s parallel giant slalom.
The snowboard big air event challenges athletes to perform a single aerial trick after descending a steep ramp. Judges evaluate based on rotation complexity, technical difficulty, and landing stability.
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Yoo kicked off her final with a jaw-dropping backside triple cork 1440 – a high-risk maneuver involving three off-axis flips and four full rotations. Her execution earned an impressive 87.75, the top score of the first round after dropping the highest and lowest marks.
In her second run, Yoo attempted a frontside triple cork 1440. Despite nailing the rotation, a slight hand drag on landing resulted in a score of 83.25. She maintained her lead after two rounds.
The third round saw Japan’s Murase Kokomo and New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott surge ahead with stellar performances. Yoo’s final attempt at the frontside triple cork 1440 ended in a fall, securing her the bronze.
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Yoo’s performance was groundbreaking on multiple fronts. She became the first South Korean woman to qualify for Olympic snowboard big air, an event that debuted at the 2018 PyeongChang Games. Additionally, she made history as the first South Korean to reach the big air finals and claim a medal in the discipline. This follows her silver medal at the 2025-26 World Cup big air event, another first for South Korean snowboarding.
Yoo’s journey to the podium was marked by adversity. The high-risk nature of big air has led to numerous injuries, including a fractured right ankle at the October 2024 FIS World Cup. She also battled through an elbow dislocation during training in Japan in July 2025 and a wrist fracture in November. Yoo’s resilience in overcoming these setbacks makes her achievement all the more remarkable.
At just 18 years old, Yoo’s future in the sport looks incredibly promising. Born in 2008, she’s entering her athletic prime with plenty of room for growth.
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The Korea Ski and Snowboard Association has announced plans to reward Kim Sang-gyeom’s silver medal performance with 200 million KRW (approximately 150,000 USD), while Yoo will receive 100 million KRW (approximately 75,000 USD) for her bronze medal effort.
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