Sobolev tops qualifying for men's PGS

Krasnaya Polyana, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - Russian snowboarder Andrey Sobolev was the top qualifier Wednesday in the men's parallel giant slalom.

Sobolev had the fastest time on the blue course and finished with an overall time of 1 minute, 35.62 seconds.

Russian teammate Vic Wild was second in qualifying and Germany's Patrick Bussler was third.

Wild was born in White Salmon, Wash., but married Russian snowboarder Alena Zavarzina in 2011 and was granted citizenship in the Olympic host country in 2012.

Sixteen of the 32 riders advanced to the next round. Medals will be awarded after four rounds of finals later Wednesday.

Slovenia's Rok Marguc had the fourth-fastest time and Austria's Benjamin Karl, the 2010 silver medalist and winner of four straight world titles, was fifth.

Reigning Olympic champion Jasey Jay Anderson of Canada qualified in the 13th spot. Anderson, 38, is competing in his fifth Olympics. Matthew Morison also made the finals in 14th position but fellow Canadian Michael Lambert failed to move on.

The only American in the field, Justin Reiter, failed to move on.

Swiss brothers Philipp and Simon Schoch qualified in ninth and 10th place. Philipp won back-to-back Olympic gold medals in 2002 and 2006 and Simon earned silver behind his brother in 2006.