Snowboarding-Austria's Haemmerle wins men's snowboard cross gold

ZHANGJIAKOU, China : Austria's Alessandro Haemmerle won gold at the men's snowboard cross final on Thursday at the Beijing Games, narrowly finishing ahead of Canadian Eliot Grondin in a neck-and-neck final race.

Haemmerle came in seventh at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, while Grondin came in 36th.

Omar Visintin of Italy lost the early lead in the men's final on Thursday and settled for the bronze medal.

The Olympic snowboard cross course at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou runs for a distance of 1,310 metres and includes sharp turns, drops and jumps.

The sport is known to be unpredictable and dangerous, with favoured riders often crashing out unexpectedly and colliding with each other, causing injuries and delays.

(Reporting by Mari Saito; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)