Swiss Schoch snowboard world
Simon and Philipp Schoch have won the first gold and third silver for Switzerland at the World snowboard championships in the Swiss resort of Arosa.
The parallel slalom final was a repeat of the men’s parallel giant slalom final at the 2006 Winter Olympics. This time however Simon came out on top.
Four Swiss had qualified for the final 16 in the parallel slalom events on Wednesday: Philipp and Simon Schoch and Marc Iselin for the men and Fränzi Kohli for the women.
The first semi-final in the men’s event was a repeat of Tuesday’s final in the parallel giant slalom in which Slovenia’s Rok Flander pipped Philipp Schoch.
On the tighter course on Wednesday, Philipp Schoch – double Olympic gold medallist at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin – came out on top but only because the Slovene got into trouble on the penultimate gate.
In the second men’s semi-final Simon Schoch, who won a bronze in the discipline at the 2003 World Championships, faced Andreas Prommegger from Austria.
Schoch, who had qualified for the final 16 in second position – just behind his brother – comfortably saw off the Austrian.
In the final, Philipp wiped out on the fifth gate in the first of two runs, giving his brother a huge advantage. Philipp made up half a second in the second run but it wasn’t enough – Simon Schoch became the new world champion to the furious ringing of cowbells and waving of Swiss flags.
Marc Iselin came ninth and Fränzi Kohli, who won a bronze in the women’s parallel giant slalom on Tuesday, missed out on a place in the quarter-finals on Wednesday by one-hundredth of a second.
The women’s competition was dominated by the Austrians, who made a clean sweep of the top three places.
Still top
So far Switzerland leads the medal table with a total of six medals.
On Sunday Sandra Frei won a first silver medal for Switzerland in the snowboard cross event.
On Tuesday Philipp Schoch won a silver and Heinz Inniger a bronze in the men’s parallel giant slalom and Fränzi Kohli clinched a bronze in the women’s event.
The championships continue on Thursday with the qualification for the big-air event, the finals of which take place on Friday, and the half-pipe competition on Saturday.
swissinfo with agencies
The FIS Snowboard World Championships are being held until January 20 in Arosa.
47 teams with 800 athletes from around the world are 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.
Philipp Schoch is 27. He is the winner of two winter Olympic golds, in Salt Lake City in 2002 and in Turin in 2006. The former machine operator has now turned professional.
Simon Schoch is 28 and a silver medal winner at the Turin games. The former bricklayer is now also a professional snowboarder.
The brothers were introduced to the sport by their father. They have both reached high levels in other sports, Philipp in Schwingen, a popular form of wrestling in Switzerland, and Simon in mountain biking.
Men:
1. Simon Schoch (Switzerland)
2. Philipp Schoch (Switzerland)
3. Rok Flander (Slovenia)
Women:
1. Heidi Neururer (Austria)
2. Marion Kreiner (Austria)
3. Doresia Krings (Austria)
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