Swiss snowboarder wins gold

Zurich snowboarder Philipp Schoch seized gold at the Salt Lake City 2002 games on Friday Keystone

Swiss snowboarder Philipp Schoch has claimed Switzerland's third Olympic gold medal after winning the parallel giant slalom.

Schoch, from canton Zurich, clinched the medal in a sudden-death against Sweden’s Richard Richarddson, after starting his gold-medal race with a quarter-second handicap.

The Swede was forced to settle for silver after losing an edge on the second half of the Park City course.

“I still can’t believe it here in front of all these people,” Schoch said afterwards. “The words fail me.”

“The piste suited me from the beginning. The snow was real icy, which I like. It was brutal, but it worked,” he said.

Fans stunned

Schoch’s nervy win was as stunning as it was unexpected. Most Swiss fans had pinned their hopes on powerful Swiss boarder Gilles Jacquet, who qualified for Friday’s final races in first place.

Jacquet however crashed in an early race ending all hopes of a medal and finishing in overall ninth place.

Another hot favourite, Austrian Alexander Maier, failed early against Schoch in their first race of the day.

Concentration test

The parallel giant slalom gold is decided through a gruelling series of sudden-death match-ups. The gold medallist must dominate eight consecutive races for success.

As the fancied boarders faltered around him on the tricky snow, Schoch kept his nerve.

After seeing off Maier in the opening elimination round, Schoch left Frenchman Mathieu Bozzetto behind in the quarter-final – another victim of the course.

Growing in confidence, Schoch then hung on against eventual bronze medallist Chris Klug, a liver transplant survivor who missed a crucial turn, setting the Swiss up for the final.

Determined underdog

After qualifying in 15th place on Thursday, the 22-year-old Schoch said he was pleased to enter the finals series as an underdog. The lack of pressure clearly paid off for Schoch who looked calm and focused throughout the finals series.

A former traditional Swiss wrestler, Schoch recently had two top-25 finishes at the 2002 World Championships in Italy, while in the parallel giant slalom his previous best was a seventh placing at the 2002 Ischgl World Cup.

Known as “Philu” to his friends, Schoch said he had felt his confidence growing in recent days.

“Even yesterday I feeling it could work, and today as I stood at the top I thought`today is my day`, and it worked.

Indescribable

Schoch’s father Walter said watching his son’s victory was indescribable.

“I am so happy,” he said after the win.

In the women’s parallel giant slalom, Swiss snowboarder Steffi von Siebenthal managed 13th after losing to eventual winner France’s Isabelle Blanc in the quarterfinal.

Jacob Greber and agencies