Switzerland’s Julie Zogg and Austria’s Andreas Prommegger won golds in the parallel slalom (PSL) disciplines at the Bakuriani 2023 Freestyle Ski, Snowboard and Freeski World Championships after defeating their compatriots in the final, according to the insidethegames.biz.
Zogg defeated fellow Swiss Ladina Jenny in the women’s PSL final by only 0.24 seconds, with Zogg winning in a time of 1min 19.69sec.
Zogg is coming off back-to-back wins in slalom at the Bansko World Cup, and continued her good form at the World Championships.
“It was a long day,” said the 30-year-old Zogg, who claimed her second world title as the first seed.
“I pushed it to the limit and it’s so cool that I’m again world champion.”
Zogg was ecstatic with her fellow countrywoman finishing second, and did not let the match up faze her.
“I was focused on myself but when we are in the finish, it’s so emotional to be together on the podium,” said Zogg.
Austria’s Sabine Schoeffman claimed third place in the women’s event as she overcame Germany’s Ramona Theresia Hofmeister.
In the men’s event Prommegger came into the finals as the number one seed, where the 42-year-old used his experience and outlasted his 26-year-old opponent Arvid Auner to win his third world title.
Prommegger edged past his fellow Austrian by 0.44 seconds, with a winning time of 1:12.95.
“It was tough,” said Prommegger, who became the oldest champion in snow sports history.
“At the end, in the final, there was no visibility, so you had to trust in your feeling. I didn’t expect this result today.
“I believed in it, but I didn’t expect it because it was such a long day, all the breaks in there we were being in the tent and we didn’t know if it was going on or not, so it was hard to be on yourself to be concentrated.”
Austria almost claimed all three places on the podium as Fabian Obmann lost the small final to Canada’s Arnaud Gaudet.
It was the first medal for Canada in parallel snowboarding since Jasey-Jay Anderson won gold at the Gangwon 2009 World Championships.