Matti Suur-Hamari won his second medal at the Beijing Paralympics when he dropped to silver in the banked slalom. He was just 0.25 seconds behind Sun Q, who won the race.
Hinni Hirvonen,
Joel Holma
11.3. 08:57 • Updated March 11th. 09:58
Matti Suur-Hamari secured his second medal at the Beijing Paralympics on Friday morning as he dropped to silver in the banked slalom. Gold was grabbed by China Sun Qi, to which Greater Hamar lost 0.25 seconds. Bronze was seized by Britain Ollie Hill.
– I wouldn’t have expected that. Not a day has actually been banked for slalom training, a time of surprise came. But I accept, it tastes really good! Suur-Hamari repeated in an interview with Sport.
On Monday, Suur-Hamari celebrated gold on a snowboard cross. Overall, the Paralympic Medal was the fourth career for Greater Hamar.
Greater Hamari failed to improve his performance with his second bill. Sun Qi, who won the race, also took the gold medal in his first round of landing.
– The track was really good for myself, I had to be moderate in the shooting. Easy track, easy to make mistakes. Many succumbed to being pushed too far. The silo does not pass. I actually got my first ran well. The weather got a little foggy, but it didn’t hurt. When I heard upstairs before starting the second fall that the medal was certain, of course he tried to push a little, but maybe he fell into a little overdoing it to not get tightened. But not many others tightened the time for that round, Suur-Hamari commented.
– I tried my best, but I was second. This silver medal tasted really good too. For the bad I didn’t lose, Sun Qi has been amazing in this banked slalom for many years. It came as no surprise that the Chinese boy is hard to count. He was a clear pre-favorite and now redeemed it. The rest of us just tried to catch him and we got pretty close.
Snowboard Cross is a stronger sport in Greater Hamar, but he has also won medals in banked slalom. In South Korea, four years ago, he won Olympic bronze and gold at the 2017 World Championships.
The medal was Finland’s fourth at the Beijing Paralympics. Greater Hamar and Santeri Kiiveri have brought all Finnish medals.
For Greater Hamar, Friday’s race was the final of the Beijing Paralympics. Suur-Hamari describes his own competitions as successful.
– You can be incredibly satisfied. This went more than a button. Now you can really go packing your bags, Suur-Hamari assured me.
When asked about the future of his career, Suur-Hamari answered with a laugh.
– Oh, are you asking again ?! Well, when you get home to Finland for the first time and feel good. But let’s just say this is pretty hard to inject. I’m not saying anything bigger yet, now let’s enjoy these!