Beijing 2022 Olympic Champion Su Yiming is undergoing an age transition.
Yiming clinched two medals at Beijing 2022 Winter Games when he was just 17. His gold and silver medal-winning runs were coupled with injuries, which made him lose interest to compete at the highest level.
But the People’s Republic of China star was truly back at the 2025 Snowboard World Championships in Engadin, Switzerland with his tricks to qualify at the first place.
“When I was younger, it was easier to devote myself entirely to snowboarding,” Su told Olympics.com.
“But now, being older than I was during the Beijing cycle, I carry more responsibilities. It’s become more difficult to put 100% of my energy into training. That’s something I’ve been working on over the past year and a half — figuring out how to refocus my priorities, my goals, and my responsibilities toward training.
“Recently, I’ve finally started to feel the same kind of drive I had in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics, and that makes me really happy. With less than a year and a half to go until Milan, I’m excited to fully commit myself to this dream again.”
The experience from Beijing 2022 to 2025 taught him resilience and how to look at failures.
“I try to view it positively and turn it into motivation,” he continued.
“After all, this is elite sport—nobody can guarantee winning all ten out of ten competitions. Of course, we athletes always strive for that, but things don’t always go as imagined. When I do fail, I try not to dwell on it too much. What matters more is that, even if I fall one day, I get up the next day, return to the same venue, attempt an even harder trick, and push myself to get it right.
“I believe that being able to embrace both success and failure is something every great athlete must learn to do.
Yiming has also learnt from his rivals’ tricks.
He stomped two 1800s en route to the Olympic gold but his rivals started landing 2160s in competition.
Seeing that has helped him to discover his passion.
“Seeing a 2160 landed in big air competition is actually a great thing for the progression of snowboarding,” he said.
“Every rider is pushing their limits, attempting their most difficult tricks. That naturally motivates me to work harder and challenge myself with even more difficult moves.”
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