Winter Olympics 2022: Indian skier Arif Khan finishes 45th in men's giant slalom event

Indian skier Arif Khan managed a 45th place finish in the men's giant slalom event at the ongoing 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on Sunday. Khan is India's lone representative at the Winter Games.

Khan, who made his debut at the Games, clocked a combined time of 2 minutes 47.24s from two races at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre.

The 33-year-old skier finished 53rd in Race 1 with a time of 1:22.35. Amidst the unfavoured weather conditions, nearly 33 skiers failed to finish Race 1 while a few could not start.

With his 45th place finish in Beijing, Arif Khan now holds the record for the best finish by an Indian athlete in a men's giant slalom event at the Winter Olympics.

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, who clocked a combined time of 2:09.35 bagged the gold medal. Slovenia's Zan Kranjec (2:09.54) and France's Mathieu Faivre (2:10.69) bagged silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Arif Khan speaks about debut Winter Olympics experience

Arif Khan, who marked his debut by finishing 45th at the Beijing Winter Olympics, shared his experience. He feels that more people from India should participate at the Winter Games in the future. Arif said:

"It's one of my dreams to be at Winter Olympics and this is my first time. It really means a lot. It's a great message back to our country and to our people to join winter sports in the future."

He added:

"There were like millions of people watching me live back home. I was trying my best to give the best I have got. But the weather was uncertain, you couldn't see much… like how the slope was used but it was good."