Alpine skier Arif Khan, India's lone participant in the Winter Olympics, finished 45th in the giant slalom event here on Sunday. 31-year-old Arif Khan of Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir has also clocked 2:47.24 seconds in two races in bad weather at Yanking National Alpine Skiing Center. Winter Olympics debutant Arif Khan finished 53rd in the first race with a timing of 1:22.35, with only 54 competitors making the race a complete success. About 33 skiers could not finish the first race while 2 could not even start. Khan was ranked 85th in the initial list of 89 players from 62 countries. However, the India player did better in the second race in which he clocked 1:24.89 to finish 44th with only 45 skiers completing the race. Nine skiers could not finish the second race, which started almost four hours late due to bad weather. Including both races, he has come in 45th place. He finished 37.89 seconds behind gold medalist Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, who also clocked 2:09.35 in both races.
Slovenia's Jan Kranjek (2:09.54) and France's Mathieu Favire (2:10.69) claimed silver and bronze medals, respectively. Khan also clocked 1:59.47 in the Winter Olympic qualification in Kolasin, Montenegro in December last year. Khan, the first Indian to qualify for two events at the Winter Olympics, will take part in the men's slalom at the same venue on Wednesday. Where Khan has said about this, "It was my dream to play in the Winter Olympics and this is my first Olympics. It matters a lot. This is a big message to the people of our country that we are going to participate in the Winter Olympics in future. ,He has said that, "Lakhs of people of the country can also see me live.
I was doing my best to do my best. But the weather was bad, you couldn't see much how the slopes were but it was good. There was low light before the start of the event due to incessant snowfall and as the first race progressed, the situation got worse. The second race was delayed due to bad weather and it was only after the situation improved that it started. According to media reports, despite his poor performance, he has also done India's best performance in the men's giant slalom event of the Winter Olympics. Poland-born Jeremy Bujakowski, India's first Winter Olympian, finished 65th in Grenoble 1968. Giant slalom is an alpine skiing event in which athletes ski down a slope and pass through a set of 'gates' which are made of plastic poles. A skier takes part in two races and in both the races the winner is the one who completes the race in the shortest time.
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