Four new Paralympic champions to be crowned at the Genting Snow Park on day seven of the Beijing 2022 Paralympics

The riders will return to the Genting Snow Park on Friday (March 11) as the banked slalom events wrap up the Para snowboard programme at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. 

The competition was initially scheduled to take place on Saturday but it was brought forward due to weather conditions. 

There will be four gold medals to grab in Zhangjiakou and here is what you need to know!

MEN’S EVENTS

USA’s Mike Minor is coming to Beijing as the defending Paralympic champion in the SB-UL class. There will be other 16 riders vying for podium places.

France’s Maxime Montaggioni is the current world champion from Lillehammer 2021 where Italy’s Jacopo Luchini finished in second place.

The French athlete made his Paralympic debut in the men’s snowboard cross while Luchini is on his second Games participation. He finished fourth in banked slalom four years ago in PyeongChang.

Great Britain’s James Barnes-Miller will be aiming high as well as the bronze medallist from the previous Winter Paralympics.

China completely dominated the SB-UL snowboard cross event with Lijia Ji (gold), Pengyao Wang (silver) and Yonggang Zhu (bronze) making a triple podium. They will be certainly going for more medals in the banked slalom.

Team USA leads the field in the SB-LL1 class. Current world and Paralympic champion Noah Elliott will try to continue his streak, while his compatriot Mike Schultz will try to stop Elliott. The 40-year-old Schultz won silver in PyeongChang.

He also bagged a silver in the snowboard cross final finishing behind Canadian sensation Tyler Turner – a bronze medallist in the banked slalom at January’s World Championships.

Croatia’s Bruno Bosnjak took the bronze medal at PyeongChang 2018 and is Croatia’s biggest medal hope in Beijing. China’s Zhongwei Wu is the bronze medallist in the snowboard cross in his Paralympic debut.

USA’s Zach Miller won the gold medal in Lillehammer in the men’s SB-LL2 class, in his first major international title.

After his silver medal at the last Worlds, Canada’s Alex Massie will try to make up for his 10th place at PyeongChang 2018. To do it, he will have to defeat USA’s Evan Strong and Finland’s Matti Suur-Hamari alongside Miller.

Strong finished in silver-medal position at PyeongChang with Suur-Hamari claiming bronze.

Australia’s Ben Tudhope is coming into his third Paralympic appearance in fine form winning the bronze medal in banked slalom at the Lillehammer 2021 Worlds. Tudhope will be seeking his second Paralympic medal after the snowboard cross bronze in Beijing.

Suur-Hamari was the winner of the snowboard cross at this year’s Games with USA’s Garrett Geros in second.

WOMEN’S EVENT

Defending world champion Lisa Bunschoten from the Netherlands is going for the only title she misses on her list of accolades. She will do everything in her power to transform the bronze medal from PyeongChang 2018 into gold this time and leave behind the disappointment of crashing in the snowboard cross final at Beijing 2022.

She will have to beat Canada’s Lisa Dejong, who picked a silver in her Paralympic debut in the women’s snowboard cross on Monday. She also picked a silver in the banked slalom at Lillehammer 2021.

Her compatriot Sandrine Hamel is aiming high in Beijing as well. The 24-year-old from Montreal recently won bronze at the Worlds in Norway.

France’s Cecile Hernandez was the winner in the women’s snowboard cross in Beijing and will be the seventh rider among the 14 in the start list for Friday’s final.

Live streaming and live results from Beijing 2022 are available on Paralympic.org.