2022 Beijing Olympics – Snowboard – Men’s SBD Slopestyle Final Run 1 – Genting Snow Park, Zhangjiakou, China – February 7, 2022. Su Yiming of China celebrates after winning silver. REUTERS/Mike Blake
ZHANGJIAKOU, China – A flood of angry and frustrated comments flooded Chinese social media after the local favorite, snowboarder Su Yiming, finished his first run at the men’s slopestyle final on Monday with what they saw as an unexpectedly low score.
Moments after Su’s first run, hundreds of Chinese netizens posted on the country’s Twitter-like platform Weibo to say their star boarder was robbed of a higher score after his “perfect” performance.
2022 Beijing Olympics – Snowboard – Men’s SBD Slopestyle Final Run 2 – Genting Snow Park, Zhangjiakou, China – February 7, 2022. Supporters cheering for Su Yiming of China during the event. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
“It’s such a smooth ride. Why didn’t Su get an 80 plus? I don’t understand,” said one of the top comments after the 17-year-old scored 78.38 points and placed fourth after the first round of the final. Veteran Redmond Gerard of the United States was in first place after the first round.
“I am speechless. It was just a perfect run,” exclaimed another user.
Meanwhile, hundreds of posts cheered on the local boarder, with Su’s name and “Go Su Yiming!” appearing at the top of Weibo’s trending topics on Sunday ahead of the third and final round.