Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 | WATCH - Arif Khan makes history, competes in giant slalom alpine skiing competition

Arif Khan, the lone Indian athlete competing in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, finished 53rd in his first race in the quadrennial event earlier today. In Beijing, 89 competitors raced in the first Giant Slalom Alpine Skiing course. He finished 19.42 seconds behind the leader, Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, with a time of 1:22.35.

WATCH

Arif's performance in the first race today is the best by an Indian in a Giant Slalom race in Winter Olympics history. The Kashmir-born athlete is soon going to make history, with one more Giant Slalom race, which is going to be held later in the day.

This turns out to be a very impressive feat by the Kashmir-born athlete, because of the fact that only 54 of the 89 skiers in contention finished the first race.

Prior to him the other Indians who had taken part in the event were --

1968 - Jeremy Bujakowski - 65th

1992 - Nanak Chand - 82nd

1992 - Chuni Lal - DNF

2006 - Hira Lal - DNF

2010 - Jamyang Namgial - 81st

2014 - Himanshu Thakur - 72nd