{"id":539199,"date":"2026-03-14T04:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T04:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/539199\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T04:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T04:09:14","slug":"ben-tudhope-wins-paralympic-games-bronze-medal-in-snowboarding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/539199\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Tudhope wins Paralympic Games bronze medal in snowboarding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian para-snowboard star Ben Tudhope says he has surprised himself by claiming his second Milano Cortina Games medal.<\/p>\n

Tudhope added another bronze medal to his Paralympics haul after finishing third from two runs in the men’s banked slalom SB-LL2 event in Cortina on Friday.<\/p>\n

Dominant local hero Emanuel Perathoner finished the course in 54.28 seconds to win gold for Italy, with Switzerland’s Fabrice von Gruenigen trailing by 2.01 seconds for silver.<\/p>\n

Tudhope finished a further 1.04 seconds behind von Gruenigen to win his, and Australia’s second medal of the Games, having won silver in the men’s snowboard cross.<\/p>\n

It was the third Paralympic medal of Tudhope’s career, having also won a bronze in the men’s snowboard cross at Beijing 2022.<\/p>\n

Tudhope clinched an equal-best finish for Australia in the men’s banked slalom, with Simon Patmore winning SB-UL bronze at the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympics.<\/p>\n

Patmore is the only Australian to win Paralympic snowboard cross gold, also doing so in 2018.<\/p>\n

Tudhope, who was born with cerebral palsy that causes partial paralysis on his left side, has now won Australia’s last three medals at the winter Paralympic Games.<\/p>\n

The Sydneysider’s SB-LL2 snowboard cross bronze was also the country’s only medal at the 2022 Beijing Games.<\/p>\n

Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n

Tudhope said he had not expected to win another medal, let alone one in the banked slalom event, after a sub-par seventh-placed finish in the 2025\/26 World Cup season.<\/p>\n

Memories of his banked slalom run at the Beijing Games, where he finished ninth, also ran through Tudhope’s mind.<\/p>\n

“It was so unexpected. I thought maybe I could get one. The season hasn’t been the best for me,” Tudhope said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve had more times off the podium than I have on, and probably in the last few seasons, it’s been one of my worst.<\/p>\n

“In the back of my head, banked slalom, I’ve never performed that at a Paralympic Games.<\/p>\n

“Compared to Beijing, I think, ‘Gosh, that was one of my worst performances in that four-year cycle.’<\/p>\n

“I definitely wanted to be able to put on a show here, and that’s what I did.”<\/p>\n

Tudhope returned to competition after dislocating his right shoulder just five days before in the snowboard cross.<\/p>\n

Paralympians express disappointment over media coverage of winter Games<\/a><\/p>\n

The Paralympic Winter Games are in full swing at Milano Cortina, and athletes and supporters have expressed their frustration over the lack of coverage of the event.<\/p>\n

Two-time Olympian Perathoner has proved a mighty rival for Tudhope, with the Italian winning two Paralympics gold medals on debut.<\/p>\n

Perathoner, 39, suffered an injury to his left leg while training for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.<\/p>\n

He required a knee replacement as part of four surgeries.<\/p>\n

Perathoner had won nine out of 10 World Cup races in the lead-up to the Milano Cortina Games, but Tudhope said the Italian was not untouchable.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Ben Tudhope (left), Emanuel Perathoner (centre) and Fabrice von Gruenigen (right) celebrate after the snowboard men’s banked slalom SB-LL2. (AP: Evgeniy Maloletka)<\/p>\n

“I always strive for gold,” Tudhope said.<\/p>\n

“And Perathoner, he’s a great competitor, but he’s not unbeatable.<\/p>\n

“There’s been instances where I have got him in the past.<\/p>\n

“I will continue to improve my skills, improve my snowboarding to be the best I can be.<\/p>\n

“And if that makes me a gold medallist, if that makes me a medallist, I will just continue to grow and learn from all of my experiences.”<\/p>\n

Asked of his celebrations, Tudhope said: “Beers, beers, beers, beers, beers.”<\/p>\n

Also on Friday, Australian para-alpine skier Josh Hanlon finished 10th in the men’s giant slalom sitting after veteran Michael Milton withdrew following his course inspection.<\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

Australia’s Sean Pollard competes in the para-snowboard Men’s Banked Slalom SB-UL. (AP: OIS\/IOC\/Tyler McFarland)<\/p>\n

The self-styled “fastest no-handed man on the planet” and Australian captain Sean Pollard was 12th in the SB-UL event, and debutant Aaron McCarthy finished 13th in the SB-LL1.<\/p>\n

Australia did not have a woman compete in the banked slalom after Amanda Reid withdrew after crashing out of the women’s SB-LL2 snowboard cross pre-heat last Sunday.<\/p>\n

In Tesero, Lauren Parker finished eighth in the women’s biathlon sprint pursuit final as US heavyweight Oksana Masters finished sixth behind gold medallist and compatriot Kendall Gretsch.<\/p>\n

Dave Miln missed out on the top 24 and finished 25th in the men’s sitting qualifying, ahead of fellow Australian debutant Matt Brumby in 27th.<\/p>\n

Taryn Dickens missed the top-12 cut-off in the women’s vision impaired event, finishing 13th with guide Lynn Maree Cullen.<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian para-snowboard star Ben Tudhope says he has surprised himself by claiming his second Milano Cortina Games medal.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5844,64,63,267207,142583,145675,588,85,195271,189415],"class_list":["post-539199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-abc-sport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ben-tudhope","tag-milano-cortina","tag-paralympic-games","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-winter-games","tag-winter-paralympics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}