Winter Paralympics preview: Para Snowboard day one

Para snowboard will award its first Paralympic champions on Monday (7 March) at the Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park.

Four snowboard cross Beijing 2022 gold medals will be up for grabs and here is all you need to know about!

MEN’S EVENTS

SB-UL class is promising to be an exciting event with France’s Maxime Montaggioni as one of the favourites to gold after his world title in Lillehammer, Norway in January.

Great Britain’s James Barnes-Miller was in a silver-medal position at the Lillehammer World Para Snow Sports Championships in January. In 2018 he became the first Para snowboarder to compete for Great Britain at the Winter Games finishing seventh in snowboard cross.

China took the top four places in the qualification on Sunday (6 March) with Zhu Yonggang as the fastest SB-UL rider.

USA's Mike Schultz is the defending Paralympic champion in the SB-LL1 class. He had a great start of the year, taking silver at the Lillehammer 2021 Worlds behind Canada's Tyler Turner and will look to get his revenge in Beijing.

Turner won two golds and one bronze at the Lillehammer 2021, including the first place in the men's cross event in his first major championships. He was also the fastest SB-LL1 in the qualification on Sunday followed by China's Wu Zhongwei and Schultz.

Finland’s superstar Matti Suur-Hamari is the big favourite to win a gold medal for the back-to-back Paralympic title in snowboard cross. He was the fastest at the Lillehammer 2021 Worlds as well, winning his third World title in the cross event.

The Finn was also the fastest in the qualification round with USA's Garett Geros in second and Canada's Alex Massie in third.

Australia’s Ben Tudhope’s is another athlete coming to Beijing in fine form. He recently won the overall Crystal Globe award after taking four consecutive victories at the Klovsjo and Big White World Cups.

The 22-year-old added a silver medal in the cross event at the Lillehammer 2021 Worlds to his list of achievements this year. He finished fourth in the qualification.

WOMEN’S EVENT

Lisa Bunschoten and Renske van Beek from the Netherlands are the main contenders for gold in the women's SB-LL2 class. They hope to continue the legacy of the late Dutch Para snowboard legend Bibian Mentel-Spee's in the event.

The 26-year-old Bunschoten won her second World Championships title in a row at the Lillehammer 2021 before she confirmed her fifth overall and fourth-consecutive Crystal Globe award.

Canada’s Lisa Dejong is another contender for the Paralympic title, having recently won the silver medal in Lillehammer. 

France's Cecile Hernandez was the fastest in the qualification with USA's Brenna Huckaby in second. Bunschoten was third and Dejong fourth.

Live results from Beijing 2022 will be available on Paralympic.org. You can follow all the action, behind the scenes and news on World Para Snow Sports social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.