Snowboard-'Crazy pressure' left China's Su happy with big air bronze
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Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics - Snowboard - Men's Snowboard Big Air Victory Ceremony - Livigno Snow Park, Livigno, Italy - February 07, 2026. Bronze medallist Su Yiming of China walks as he celebrates following the victory ceremony. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
MILAN, Feb 11 - China's Su Yiming was delighted to make the podium in big air snowboarding at the Winter Olympics after feeling a huge weight on his shoulders as the defending champion at Milano Cortina.
Su won gold as a teenager on home soil in Beijing four years ago but last Thursday feared he might not even make it through qualifying after completely messing up his first run.
"That's a level of pressure I have never felt or experienced before," he told Reuters in an interview from Livigno.
"Coming back here for my second Olympic Games, as a defending champion, it was definitely not an easy one. I had visualised it a lot, but when I stood at the top before I dropped in, it was a like crazy pressure on my shoulders.
"Like, people are supporting you, expecting so much from you."
The 21-year-old Su said that because of the pressure he had played it safe and that finally making it through qualifying to the final was "like survival".
"After you fail your first run, you start thinking about like, what if you don't even make it to the final? It's like so disappointing to yourself and to everybody," he said.
"A lot of things were going through my mind. I tried to not think too much ... but there was something that kept coming back. That's why I'm saying I'm really proud and really happy to at least end up on the podium."
He did finally find close to his best form in Sunday's final and finished third behind his Japanese training partners Kira Kimura and Ryoma Kimata to win his third Olympic medal.
He could add to that collection next Wednesday with another slopestyle medal, having been the only competitor to land an 1800-degree aerial four years ago when he won silver.
"I feel so much better, to be honest," he said. "Less pressure going to the next one (because) I don't have a title on my shoulder as a defending champion.
"I'm still a challenger, I'm challenging myself, also challenging others. I'm just trying to land my run. That's all that I am thinking now." REUTERS
