Pesko completes Swiss snowboard triumph
Manuela Pesko has won another gold medal for Switzerland at the Snowboard World Championships in the Swiss resort of Arosa.
She won the women’s half-pipe event on Saturday ahead of Japan’s Soko Yamaoka and Poland’s Paulina Ligocka, bringing the final Swiss medal tally to seven.
Pesko, who had been in the lead after the first round of the final, had to fend off strong challenges from her two main competitors in the second round.
It is the biggest success in the career of the 28-year-old Pesko who hails from the nearby village of Pontresina.
Two years ago she came second at the world championships and has won the World Cup twice since 2003.
Three other Swiss athletes, Sina Candrian, Andrea Schuler and Ursina Haller, crashed out during the qualifying runs in Arosa.
Anita Schwaller was the last Swiss to win a world championship title in the half-pipe competition in 1997.
No Swiss qualified for the finals in the men’s competition on Saturday – the final day of the championships. The event was won by France’s Mathieu Crepel.
Seven medals
Switzerland collected a total of seven medals during the week-long championships. France grabbed gold three times and came top of the medal table.
Pesko – in the half-pipe event – and Simon Schoch won gold in Wednesday’s parallel slalom.
His brother Philipp Schoch took silver both in the parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom competitions, together with Sandra Frei who came second in the women’s snowboard cross competition.
Heinz Inniger and Fränzi Kohli both clinched a bronze medal in their respective parallel giant slalom events.
swissinfo with agencies
The FIS Snowboard World Championships took place between January 13-20 in Arosa.
47 teams with 800 athletes from around the world were invited to Arosa to compete in five disciplines: snowboard cross, parallel giant slalom, parallel slalom, big-air and halfpipe.
This is the first time that the Snowboard World Championships have been held in Switzerland.
Women:
1. Manuela Pesko (Switzerland)
2. Soko Yamaoka (Japan)
3. Paulina Ligocka (Poland)
Men:
1. Mathieu Crepel (France)
2. Kazuhiro Kokubo (Japan)
3. Brad Martin (Canada)
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