At the Gangwon Youth Olympic Games, 16-year-old Jinichiro Ishinaka was the only Japanese athlete to make it through the qualifying rounds and placed 8th in the men's ski freestyle ski cross.

Ski cross is an event in which multiple athletes ski at the same time to compete for position on a 900 meter long course with a height difference of over 120 meters, which is equipped with jumps and sharp curves.



Two Japanese men, 16-year-old Ishinaka and 17-year-old Ryusei Suzuki, participated in the preliminary round, with each skater skating five times.



Of these, Ishinaka won a close battle in the first race and came in first place, and in the fourth race he outran other athletes such as Switzerland to take first place, making him the only Japanese racer to pass the qualifying round and advance to the semi-finals. Ta.



In the semi-finals, in which four people competed in two groups, he said, ``I got nervous and spun,'' and finished in 4th place after the start.Although he did not make it to the finals, he finished 8th on the big stage where the world's best athletes gathered. I entered the rank.



Meanwhile, Suzuki was eliminated in the preliminary round, and the gold medal went to a German athlete.



On the girls' side, 16-year-olds Koko Kawashima and Hana Kiyota participated, and although they showed aggressive races, neither of them could make it past the qualifying rounds.



The women's gold medal went to Sweden.

Ishinaka: “Honestly, I’m disappointed.”

Jinichiro Ishinaka, who came in 8th place in the men's ski cross race, said, ``The two times I was able to take the top spot in the preliminaries were very good and I was satisfied with the skiing, but I was not able to finish that skiing at the end, and frankly I feel frustrated. I spun and failed, so I want to stay calm," he said, looking back on the race.



He added, ``Coming in eighth place gave me confidence, and I thought that if I skated well, I could go even higher.I have that confidence, so I want to keep working hard.I want to become an athlete who can also aim for the Olympics.'' I was talking.