Austrian snowboarder wins parallel giant slalom in 5th Olympics

LIVIGNO, Italy – Austrian snowboarder Benjamin Karl raced to a second straight gold medal in the men’s parallel giant slalom on Sunday at the Milan Cortina Games, capping a glittering career on the slopes at his fifth Olympics.

In the women’s event, Czech snowboarder Zuzana Maderova triumphed after teammate and two-time Olympic gold medallist Ester Ledecka was knocked out in the quarterfinals.

The 40-year-old Karl tore off his shirt to celebrate bare-chested on the snow-covered slopes of Livigno in the Italian Alps, pumping his arms and shouting. Karl, who has said he plans to retire after this season, edged silver medalist Sangkyum Kim of Korea by 0.19 seconds.

The triumph handed Karl his fourth Olympic medal. He earned silver in Vancouver in 2010, a bronze at Sochi in 2014 and gold at Beijing in 2022.

Tervel Zamfirov of Bulgaria earned bronze in a photo finish over Slovenia’s Tim Mastnak, the silver medalist in Beijing.

Maderova, the women’s champion, jumped on the top step of the podium at the medal ceremony and bronze medalist Lucia Dalmasso of Italy cried as she grasped her prize.

With them was silver medalist Sabine Payer of Austria, who knocked Ledecka out of the contest.

The 30-year-old Ledecka was the first female to win gold in two different Winter Olympic sports at Pyeongchang 2018 when she prevailed in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom and the skiing Super-G.

Ledecka had to choose between the two events in Milan due to a scheduling clash, opting for snowboarding over the downhill races.

“I feel sorry for my team, but I did my best and that’s just what can happen in sports,” Ledecka said.

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media