COLLECTING A MEDAL TO SAVOUR
SNOWBOARD cross racer Jarryd Hughes has taken Winter Olympics silver, Australia’s third medal in PyeongChang.
French world No.1 Pierre Vaultier won gold and Spaniard Regino Hernandez bronze. Australian Alex Pullin crashed in yesterday’s final to place sixth.
World No.9 Hughes, a Sochi 2014 quarter-finalist who has endured five knee surgeries, was the less fancied of the two Australian finalists with Pullin ranked second in the world.
But the 22-year-old negotiated the course as other competitors crashed to be in a late three-way race for gold, making up ground on a runaway Vaultier in the dying stages as he narrowly held off Hernandez.
“Oh mate, it’s happy days. Happy, happy days,” Hughes told the Seven Network. “I think it hit me when I was there giving my mum and dad a hug. A few tears.
“I’m just happy to see all the hard work paying off and working out. It was a rough year but we made it work, so I’m really happy.
“(I) never doubted it.”