Hong Kong alpine skier Adrian Yung Hau-tsuen struggled in the first of his two Beijing Winter Olympics events on Sunday morning. The 17-year-old crashed out early in his men’s giant slalom run in poor sub-zero conditions at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre , finishing with a DNF. Visibility and navigation became increasingly unfavourable for athletes tackling the 46-turn piste, with 34 of the 89 competitors failing to complete their runs after slipping or crashing at various markers. Yung, the youngest entrant of the group, was visibly upset after losing a ski on a sharp turn. Organisers also had to momentarily call a course hold to find his missing ski in the relentless snow. “Very happy to be here, but also very sad because I really wanted to ski more and finish, but my ski fell off so I couldn’t continue,” Yung told TVB after his race. “The snow was really difficult today. It was really bumpy. Competition snow is harder, icier, so today I had no confidence and couldn’t ski well. “I need to control my nerves and find a way to ski on this snow, because I hadn’t skied on this type previously. I think the slalom I will ski better.” Yung had set a target of “top 50” before travelling to Beijing, while finishing “ top 30 would be a dream come true ”. Yung added that though the giant slalom and slalom events are “very different”, he will spend the next couple of days training because it “can distract myself from my mentality and nerves”. “I was a bit nervous, but I was mainly very excited to compete at the Olympics,” he said, thanking his family for supporting him throughout his career. Yung’s, sister Catherine, said her brother would be extremely disappointed not to have completed the race but conditions were a huge influence. He will be desperate to put on a better showing in the men’s slalom event on Wednesday. “Disappointed, but you could see he was putting everything into it before he fell,” she told TVB. Who is Hong Kong’s Winter Olympics skier Adrian Yung? “Today’s conditions were not favourable. Hope he isn’t too unhappy because he has an another event. Hopefully the weather will be better by then.” The TVB crew gave Yung a chance to talk to his family from the courses. “Did you guys actually manage to see any of my run? Because I think I went out a bit too early,” he asked. “My ski popped off quite quickly. I guess it wasn’t meant to be today” “I’ll probably go back and rest a bit, go to the gym, I think ski-wise it’s done for today, maybe focus on training for the slalom, hopefully it’ll be better by then. At least I get to keep my bib. I saw a lot of them [my ski idols] but obviously I don’t want to disturb them during the race.” Yung’s relatives shared other insight on their former junior British champion skier, such as his declaration he did not believe in superstitions the night before his Olympics debut, his cheeky childhood antics, and his love of char siu buns and the colour pink. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland won the run with a time of 1 minute 2.93 seconds and is considered a favourite for a podium place. Yung’s slalom race on February 16 caps team Hong Kong’s record-breaking Winter Games delegation after teammates Audrey King’s women’s slalom and Sidney Chu’s men’s 500m short-track speed skate earlier in the week. FIS (International Ski Federation) organisers opted for the men’s giant slalom event to continue despite heavy snowfall, lowering the start intervals between athletes in the first group. The women’s downhill race training session was cancelled earlier in the day because of weather. Fellow entrant Benjamin Alexander, a former DJ in Hong Kong who is representing his birthplace of Jamaica, finished last with a time of 1:37.94. China’s Zhang Yangming and Xu Mingfu finished in 1:15.66 and 1:15.96, respectively, while Thailand’s Nicola Zanon clocked 1:17.32 and India’s Arif Mohd Khan 1:22.35. Meanwhile, the Philippines’ only Winter Olympic entrant Asa Miller and South Korea’s Jung Donghyun failed to finish.