Barnabas Szollos achieved Israel’s best-ever individual finish at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games on Thursday when he came in sixth place overall in the men’s alpine combined.
The 23-year-old Hungarian-born skier, who’s representing Israel in his Olympic debut, finished second in the slalom portion of the race and 11th in the downhill section, which resulted in an overall sixth-place finish with a time of 1:45.04. The gold-medal winner was Johannes Strolz from Austria; Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde earned the silver; and the bronze medal went to Canada’s James Crawford.
Israel’s national Twitter account congratulated Szollos on his run, saying: “For a country where most people ski on sand, 6th place is pretty good. Mazal tov, champion!”
For a country where most people ski on sand, 6th place is pretty good.
Mazal Tov champion! https://t.co/fT7VL9PhSG
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) February 10, 2022
The Feb. 10 race was Szollos’s third Olympic event; he finished 30th overall in both the men’s downhill and Super-G. He will compete in the giant slalom on Sunday and in the slalom on Feb. 16.
Raised in Austria, Szollos obtained Israeli citizenship through his father, a former coach of Israel’s national team, according to The Associated Press. He has been to Israel twice.