Snowboard World Cup:

Austrian double podium in Scuol

Dominik Burgstaller was only beaten by Maurizio Bormolini.(Bild: GEPA)

Austria's male snowboarders had reason to celebrate on Saturday: 23-year-old Dominik Burgstaller only had to admit defeat to the experienced Italian Maurizio Bormolini in the final of the parallel World Cup giant slalom in Scuol and achieved his first ever podium finish in second place. Third place went to 44-year-old Andreas Prommegger, who had narrowly lost the direct semi-final duel with Burgstaller. It was Prommegger's 70th World Cup podium finish in total.

"It's still hard for me to realize what just happened. During the race, I motivated myself with the fact that my start number 12 has a special meaning. I told myself it would either be one or two today - and that's how it actually turned out with second place," explained Burgstaller emotionally afterwards.

Prommegger was also delighted. "I'm very happy to have secured the 70th podium finish of my career in one of my favorite races in the World Cup. I'm really proud of this result," said Prommegger.

Auner lost to the eventual winner
In the quarter-final with three Austrians, Arvid Auner fell by the wayside against the eventual winner Bormolini and finished sixth. Burgstaller had also benefited from a crash by Italian World Cup leader Daniele Bagozza right after the start in the quarter-finals. Bagozza fought his way back, but Burgstaller remained 0.13 seconds ahead.

In the women's race, Sabine Payer was the last and therefore best Austrian in the quarter-finals. The Cortina winner challenged RTL World Cup leader Aleksandra Krol-Walas from Poland, but then crashed in the finish. The Polish racer went on to take victory, Payer finished fifth and Claudia Riegler was the second-best ÖSV boarder in tenth place.

The World Cup team now heads to Bad Gastein, where parallel slalom competitions are on the program on Tuesday and Wednesday (team event).