The Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup at Schonried concluded with the season's third Parallel Slalom today. In a near upset, Canadian Jasey Jay Anderson, the all-rounder on the tour, and one of the few riders who competes in every World Cup discipline and has managed to claim wins in all of but halfpipe and parallel slalom, eliminated the Austrians Stefan Kaltschutz and Felix Stadler and faced Parallel World Cup leader Nicolas Huet from France in the semi-finals.
When he managed to beat Huet by four hundredths of a second and advance to the finals, Anderson looked as if he would take it, only to be finally stopped by Dejan Kosir from Slovenia who claimed his second gold this season.
"I feel great," Kosir stated, "I was in good shape already at Ischgl and trained a lot during Christmas and New Year. My special tactic today was not to force it at the first three gates on the pitch, even if I was a bit behind, and the let it go to keep control until the finish line, that was the key."
Anderson had some problems in the final duel and missed his first-ever Parallel Slalom win by just 10 hundredths of a second. "Well, I think I still need to wait for that," the Canadian said, "but it was really fun, a good race, just a bit short. For me it was a real fight. I was so inconsistent and got bucked around a lot. I definitely liked it much better than yesterday when I had the worst time — I was tired, I was late, I was everything bad, but today I felt fine and the result is just great. My goal was top eight which was almost unrealistic for me and I still pulled it out so I don't think I can ask for better..."
Reigning Parallel Slalom World Champion Huet faced Richard Richardsson in the consolation final and was 89 hundredths of a second ahead in the first run when the Swede crashed. Richardsson pushed hard in the second run but was not able to close the gap and had to leave it to the Frenchmam.
"Third again...," was Huet's comment. Obviously disappointed he said, "My riding today was so much better than yesterday — it is really a shame I could not make it any further. I had a good feeling all day but just could not make it up after my crash in the semi-finals."
He does though keep the lead in the parallel standings. Kosir moved up to 2nd while France's Mathieu Bozzetto dropped back to 3rd.
In the women's race, Karine Ruby from France met rookie Nina Schlegel from Austria in the final duel. Though she claimed the win, Ruby did not look as safe a bet as usual. "I was not scared in the slalom and therefore felt quite confident, but it was not easy to find the rhythm in the beginning of the finals. The piste became more difficult to ride this morning when the weather changed it but I just did not worry and put it together," Ruby said. "In the finals, the slope was completely different and I just needed to get used to it."
Schlegel, reigning Junior World champion, was overwhelmed by her 2nd place finish, her best result ever in a World Cup. "It might take a few hours until I really check what happened," the Austrian said. "It is just great and I am so happy since it did not work that good so far this season."
Heidi Renoth from Germany and Italian Margherita Parini faced each other in the consolation round for 3rd place. Renoth finally got it by winning both runs. "I worked hard and the semi-finals against Karine was kind of a fight," she said."Third place is great, it was time to make it to the podium again after some weeks." Parini got 4th.
With today's win, Ruby further increased her lead and US rider Rosey Fletcher moved up to 2nd ahead of Italy's Carmen Ranigler.
The World Cup will head on to Avoriaz-Morzine, France, now for two Snowboard Cross races.
— Britta Semmler, MountainZone.com Correspondent
