Ben Tudhope wins snowboard cross bronze at Beijing Paralympics
Ben Tudhope won bronze in the snowboard cross, Australia's first medal of the Beijing Paralympics. Photo: AAP/IOC
Ben Tudhope has won bronze in the para snowboard cross to get Australia off the mark at the Beijing Winter Paralympics.
The 22-year-old star finished third behind close friend and PyeongChang gold medallist Matti Suur-Hamari of Finland and the United States’ Garrett Geros in Monday’s SB-LL2 Big Final to claim his breakthrough medal at his third Games.
World No.1 Tudhope had looked primed for gold or silver but after a slow start, sat fourth behind China’s Qi Sun for most of the race before fighting back with a late burst to claim a medal.
Tudhope is Australia’s second para snowboarding medallist after Simon Patmore, who triumphed in snowboard cross in PyeongChang and also claimed bronze in the banked slalom.
https://twitter.com/AUSParalympics/status/1500709819317370880
He will also compete in Saturday’s Banked Slalom, looking to significantly better his seventh-placed finish in PyeongChang.
Tudhope entered the games in red-hot form, claiming four consecutive snowboard cross World Cup gold medals and two Crystal Globes in the lead-up.
After cruising through qualifying, he was second in his quarter-final then finished second behind Suur-Hamari in his semi.
He and Suur-Hamari’s ‘Team Unicorn’ teammate Alex Massie missed out on a spot in the big final, leading his semi-final until he had trouble late and was overtaken by Qi and Geros.
-AAP
