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Andreas Prommegger takes parallel RTL victory in Poland

Andreas Prommegger triumphs in Poland(Bild: GEPA)

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In the second World Cup parallel giant slalom for snowboarders in Krynica-Zdroj on Sunday, there was a victory for Austria after all. Andreas Prommegger first came out on top by a wafer-thin margin in the photo finish in the semi-final, and in the grand final he fought off the Italian Maurizio Bormolini, who is now the overall World Cup winner, by a narrow margin of six hundredths of a second. In the women's event, winner Tsubaki Miki secured the overall World Cup, while Sabine Payer came eighth on the day.

"Everything was difficult today. It's always tough against 'Bormo', I had to give everything. I'm very tired, but very happy," explained Prommegger. The 44-year-old from Salzburg gained a lot of self-confidence almost three weeks before the highlight of the season, the World Championships in the Engadine. It was his 25th individual victory in the World Cup. Just the day before, the Austrians had failed to reach the semi-finals in the men's and women's events in Poland and therefore failed to finish on the podium.

Miki double shot put winner
In the women's event, Sabine Payer from Carinthia was the only red-white-red quarter-finalist to be eliminated by Italy's Lucia Dalmasso by 0.16 seconds. Japan's Miki took the discipline ranking on Sunday, also because Germany's Ramona Hofmeister was surprisingly eliminated in the semi-finals, and also secured the win of the big crystal globe before the last World Cup race in Winterberg in mid-March (one more parallel slalom each).

Martina Ankele (14th), Alexander Payer (10th) and Matthias Pink (12th) had already failed in the round of 16. Benjamin Karl (22nd) and Fabian Obmann (28th) as well as Claudia Riegler (20th), Miriam Weis (27th), Pia Schöffmann (28th) and Carmen Kainz (did not finish) were eliminated before the round of 16.

At the Cross World Cup in Erzurum, Turkey, Pia Zerkhold and Lukas Pachner reached the grand final in the mixed competition and finished third. Victory went to the Australian duo Josie Baff/Cameron Bolton.