Pak skier Karim falters in Winter Olympics

KARACHI: Pakistani skier Mohammad Karim faltered badly when he failed to finish the race in the slalom event of the Winter Olympics at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on Thursday.

Karim failed to finish both his runs in the contest, carrying 108 contestants. As many 55 skiers did not finish both their races while nine failed to finish their second run whose ranking was counted. Andre Myhrer of Sweden won Sweden first slalom gold since 1980 when he did so with an aggregate time of one minute and 38.99 seconds. He clocked 47.93 seconds in the first race and 51.06 in the second race. Michael Matt of Austria finished with 1:39.66 to secure bronze medal.

Karim a few days ago had finished at the 72nd spot out of 110 competitors in his giant slalom event. With this Pakistan ended its journey in the world’s prestigious event. Karim’s nephew Syed Human had finished at the 108th spot out of 119 contestants in the 15 kilometre cross country event held on February 16.

This was the first time that a couple of Pakistani skiers competed in Winter Games in three disciplines. Karim was also part of the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. In 2010 Mohammad Abbas had made debut for Pakistan in Winter Olympics when he had featured in the Vancouver Winter Games.