LAHORE - Pakistan’s Muhammad Karim made his second appearance for the country at the Winter Games giant slalom event and finished on the 72nd rank, clocking two minutes and 54.04 seconds in Pyeongchnag Sunday.
Karim managed to finish the two runs with a better average above Puerto Rico and two athletes from North Korea as only 75 skiers finished the race, while 34 out of 119 skiers did not finish the race.
With the 72nd position Karim scored 225.85 points after two runs whereas his performance at the 2014 Sochi Olympics gave him 226.79 points and he was 71st in the race out of 109 athletes.
The Olympic giant slalom traditionally brings together the biggest melting pot of alpine skiers and there was no exception at the Pyeongchang Games. Braving the tricky Rainbow 1 course were 110 skiers from a staggering 69 countries, entertaining the rowdy 4,000-strong crowd with some excellent skiing in bright sunshine. Austria’s Michael Hirscher took the gold medal while Norway’s Henrick Kristofferson bagged the silver medal and French skier Alexis Pinturault finished third in the competition.
"I haven't met with him," Pakistan's Muhammad Karim said of his piste hero Hirscher, who also won gold in Tuesday alpine combined. "He's a perfect player, very nice on skis, very balanced and winning a lot of competitions. That's why I like him."
Hirscher is feted in Austria as one of the country's favourite sporting sons. Six consecutive World Cup overall titles, based around 55 individual victories, have been the bedrock for a stellar career that has brought him fame and riches.
For Karim, however, it is a different story, the Pakistani admitting that he's hardly a household name in his own hometown of Naltar, where he learned to ski aged four on wooden planks carved by his uncle.
"The people in Pakistan are not so interested in skiing, it's too much cricket, they're crazy about that," said Karim, his country's flag bearer at the opening ceremony. "Some of the people in my town know about me, many not."
While Karim struggles with funding for overseas training, with snow at the Naltar and Malam Jabba resorts not hard enough and the slopes not steep enough, others have followed different paths to the Olympics.
Earlier Syed Human also made his debut for Pakistan at the cross-country event where he finished at the 108th place with 274.80 points.
Karim’s starting rank was also affected as he had to skip one of his international races for points last month, where he had to come home early as his mother passed away.
Meanwhile, Karim will be making the debut for Pakistan in the slalom event on February 23.
This is the first time Pakistan sent two skiers who are competing in three events. Pakistan only began sending the skiers to Winter Games in 2010, when Muhammad Abbas made the debut for the country in Canada, while Karim participated in Sochi.