Emanuel Perathoner of Italy won the gold medal in the men's SB-LL2 banked slalom event at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games [1].
This victory marks a significant achievement for the host nation during the Games. The SB-LL2 classification represents a high level of competition among snowboarders with specific lower-limb impairments, where precision and speed are critical for podium finishes.
Perathoner claimed the top spot with a best time of 54.28 seconds [1]. Fabrice von Gruenigen of Switzerland followed in second place, securing the silver medal with a time of 56.29 seconds, which was 2.01 seconds behind the leader [1].
Ben Tudhope of Australia earned the bronze medal with a best time of 57.33 seconds [1]. His performance placed him 3.05 seconds behind Perathoner [1]. Qi Sun of the People's Republic of China finished in fourth place, recording a time of 57.72 seconds [1].
Zach Miller of the U.S. finished in fifth place, though his specific time was not listed in the official summary [1]. Other competitors, including Keiji Okamoto of Japan, pushed hard during the race to climb the rankings in the challenging banked slalom course [1].
Okamoto's effort was part of a broader display of athletic determination in the SB-LL2 category. The event highlighted the technical difficulty of the Milano Cortina course, where small errors in line choice can lead to significant time gaps between the top five finishers [1].
“Emanuel Perathoner of Italy won the gold medal in the men's SB-LL2 banked slalom event”
The result underscores Italy's competitive edge on home soil and the narrow margins of error in Paralympic snowboarding. With the gold medalist finishing more than two seconds ahead of the silver medalist, Perathoner demonstrated a dominant technical performance that separated him from the rest of the international field.
