Baking Up a Storm

For some athletes, 17 is the age to make their Olympic debut. But for Chinese snowboarder Zhang Jiahao, it is the age at which he first took up the sport. Born in Beijing in 1995, Zhang had worked as a baker before becoming a professional snowboarder in 2014.

At the time, he, having never imagined how far he would progress in the sport, only saw snowboarding as a hobby. However, after taking part in a number of amateur competitions, he set himself the goal of competing in the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.

While Zhang failed to get enough points in the International Ski Federation (FIS) competitions to qualify for