Gangwon 2024: the first YOG champions and medalists
Jan 23, 2024·Inside FIS
The 4th edition of the Youth Olympic Games kicked off on Friday, 19th January 2024, with the traditional Opening Ceremony. The medals hunt began the next morning.
Snowboard
Jonas Chollet (FRA) and Noemie Wiedmer (SUI) won the snowboard cross gold medals on the day Brazil celebrated its first ever Winter YOG medal thanks to Zion Bethonico. The Brazilian teen took a bronze medal in the men's snowboard cross with his older brother, Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympian Noah Bethonico, coaching him through the runs while riding a ski lift, and his parents cheering him on from the sidelines.
Team France emerged as one of the top countries on the slopes with five medals in the SBX events including a gold and silver medal finish in the mixed team competition.
Read:
Ski Jumping
In ski jumping, there was also a promising nod to the future with Ajda Kosnjek winning with Slovenia in the mixed team event. The 16-year-old is supported by a Milano Cortina 2026 scholarship from Olympic Solidarity.
Watch:
Alpine skiing
Camilla Vanni (ITA) claimed the Youth Olympics women's super G at the Jeongseon High1 ski resort on Sunday 21st January. The 17-year-old, based in Cortina d'Ampezzo, the town that will co-host the 2026 Winter Olympics, posted the fastest time in the women's Super G on the Apollo 4 slope. Wearing bib no. 10, Vanni crossed the finish line clocking 53.54 seconds, with Eva Schachner from Austria the closest to the Italian's time, coming in second, 0.07 seconds behind.
"The course was quite easy and flat, and despite the recent snow, the track was in good conditions. I was surprised when I saw I was first because I made a minor mistake in the final section," the Italian said when the race was still ongoing.
Shaienne Zehnder from Switzerland completed the podium, finishing 0.21 seconds back. She was the first of the three Swiss athletes to finish in the top 10.
On the same day, Germany claimed the first men's gold medal of the alpine skiing competition of the 2024 YOG thanks to Benno Brandis. The 17-year-old secured a close victory in the men's Super G by the smallest margin. Brandis finished with a time of 54.42 seconds, one hundredth of a second faster than silver medalist Asaja Sturm (AUT). Andrej Barnas of Slovakia won bronze, finishing 0.10 seconds from the winner.
"I still can't believe it, it's crazy," a beaming Brandis said after the race, a shining gold medal hanging around his neck. In the prior three editions of the Winter Youth Games, no German alpine skier had won a title.
Maja Waroschitz (AUT) added another medal for Austria by securing the alpine skiing women's individual combined title on Monday, 22nd January. The ever-smiling 17-year-old overcame a high bib number (49) and the freezing conditions (-10°C) at the Jeongseon High1 ski resort, to finish with the third best time in the Super G. Starting third-from-last in the slalom, she set the fastest overall time and maintained her lead even after her teammate Eva Schachner and Fabienne Wenger (SUI) completed their runs. Giorgia Collomb (ITA) climbed back from 13th position in the Super G to finish second. Germany's Romy Ertl won bronze, finishing 0.86 seconds from the winner: her mother, German ski legend Martina Ertl, secured the same medal in the same event at the 2022 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
Zak Carrick-Smith (GBR) made a stunning comeback in the men's combined race to claim Great Britain's first-ever gold in an alpine skiing Olympic event. The 16-year-old delivered a sensational slalom run, climbing 26 positions, and clocking an aggregate time of 1:49.46 - 0.13 seconds faster than the silver medalist Alexander Ax Swartz (SWE). Another Swede, Liam Liljenborg, rounded off the podium after finishing fourth in the Super G.
"I remember going up the chairlift after the first run, I was disappointed and I just knew I had to give my all in slalom so I just didn't hold back at all, I just went at it and probably had the best run of my life, it was just amazing," said Zak Carrick-Smith, who is coached by his mum, Emma Carrick-Anderson, a four-time Olympian for Team GB.
Read: