Beijing, Feb 13 (IANS): Indian skier Arif Khan finished 45th in the Men's Giant Slalom race at the 2022 Winter Olympics, here on Sunday. The 31-year-old skier from Jammu and Kashmir, who is the only Indian athlete at the 2022 Winter Olympics, ended at 53rd in Race 1 with a time of 1 minute 22.35 seconds. In Race 2, he clocked 1:24.89.

The lone Indian athlete at the Winter Olympics 2022, Arif Khan finished overall 45th at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre.

His combined time was 37.89 seconds behind gold winner Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, who clocked a combined time of 2:09.35. Slovenia's Zan Kranjec (2:09.54) and France's Mathieu Faivre (2:10.69) clinched the silver and bronze medal, respectively. Khan has qualified for the slalom race event also, where he is scheduled to compete on February 16.

"It's one of my dreams to be at the Winter Olympics and this is my first time. It really means a lot. It's a great message back to our country, to our people to join winter sports in future," Khan was quoted as saying by Olympics.com.

"There were like millions of people watching me live back home. I was trying my best to give the best I have got. But the weather was uncertain, you couldn't see much, like how the slope was used, but it was good," he said.