Huge surprise in Meribel in the parallel giant slalom: Alexander Schmid won gold for the German team. Lena Dürr and Linus Straßer retired early.
Schmid won the title this time on Wednesday after the thankless fourth place two years ago. In the final he clearly beat the Austrian Dominik Raschner in two runs. In the first round he gained a lead of five tenths of a second because the Austrian made a driving mistake. In the second race, the 28-year-old significantly increased his lead and won by a nine-tenth margin. It was the first medal for the German team at this year’s World Championships.
“I still can’t really believe it,” said Schmid at the finish. “After yesterday’s team event, it was clear to me: from now on I have to focus on myself and perform. It worked. I’m super happy,” said the winner.
In the women’s category, Marie Therese Tviberg from Norway won, clearly defeating Wendy Holdener from Switzerland in the final.
Dürr, Straßer and Schmid qualified for Germany
After qualifying early on Tuesday evening, which took place in Courchevel, the 16 qualified racers fought in direct knockout duels for gold, silver and bronze in the round of 16 in Meribel. In both competitions, the best met 16th, the second 15th, and so on.
In the round of 16, the German co-favorite Lena Dürr got the day off to a good start. She narrowly defeated the American Nina O’Brien in both heats, but overall just enough to advance to the next round. It was already clear here: The two set courses were not exactly at the same speed. The red course was slightly slower, so the two runs had to be viewed differently.
In the quarterfinals came the end for the German. She lost both races by a hair’s breadth to the eventual winner, Marie Therese Tvieberg from Norway, and had to drop out of the competition.
Straßer out in the round of sixteen
The parallel races celebrated their premiere at the Ski World Championships 2021 in Cortina d’Ampezzo. It was the first time that medals were awarded in women vs. women and man vs. man fights at a World Ski Championships. This year, the second edition was about medals.
The two Germans Linus Straßer and Alexander Schmid qualified for the men’s finals. Schmid, ungrateful fourth in Cortina in 2021, prevailed against Italian Filippo Della Vite in the round of 16. And Linus Straßer also had to deal with an Italian competitor. And was relatively surprisingly eliminated in the round of 16. He did win the first run against Luca De Aliprandini – on the slower course by five hundredths of a second. In the second run, however, the German had to pass after a goal error in the lower section.
Schmid stable in the semifinals
Schmid was now on his own from a German point of view, in the quarter-finals he had to play against Zan Kranjec. In the first run, Schmid took advantage of the faster blue course and gained a two-tenth lead. That was enough against the Slovenian, who risked everything in the second run, but was unable to beat the stable German.
In the lap of the last four, Schmid again delivered a highly concentrated performance in the first round and defeated the Norwegian Timon Haugen on the blue course by a comfortable two-tenths of a second. The German couldn’t let this lead be taken away. The sports soldier also asserted himself on the red course and defeated the Norwegian a second time – this time by a margin of six hundredths. That made it to the finals. And the silver medal for sure.
Final against Austrian Raschner
In the final against the Austrian Dominik Raschner, Schmid had an excellent first run and clearly defeated his opponent. He received a bonus of five tenths of a second for the second run after his competitor had finished far behind due to a driving error.
He didn’t let this lead be taken away in the second round. On the faster blue course, he was clearly ahead from the start and this time distanced himself from his competitor by a whopping nine tenths of a second. That meant: Gold for Schmid! Gold for Germany!