A commendable 17th place for Adur Etxezarreta in men's downhill skiing

Adur Etxezarreta finished 17th in the men's downhill ski event at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, a position to be proud of. Despite finishing nowhere near the podium places, the 26-year-old has achieved Spain's best ever finish in this modality, breaking the 27th place record held by Paquito Fernández Ochoa since 1980.

With a final time of 1:44:12, Etxezarreta finished under two seconds behind the podium finishers Beat Feuz, Johan Clarey and Matthias Mayer. But two seconds is a long time in what is a frenetic descent, as well as there being nearly fifteen other competitors who bettered the Spaniard but also failed to finish in the top three.

"The truth is that I'm happy with the descent. It wasn't the best because I had a bit more stress than in the training sessions, but I'm satisfied. This will give me a boost going into future competitions," he said in a press release sent out by the Spanish Olympic Committee.

Following his encouraging Olympic debut, Etxezarreta will compete again in Tuesday's Giant Slalom event at 11am local time (4am Spanish time).