American-born Russian snowboarder Vic Wild earned his second gold of the Sochi Olympics thanks to thrilling wins in the semifinal and then the Big Final of parallel slalom.
In his semi-final, Wild was down 1.12 seconds to Austria’s Benjamin Karl after the first run, but threw down a blinding second run to defeat Karl by a mere .04 of a second to make his way into the Big Final.
There, he faced Slovenia’s Zan Kosir and managed to take the gold by .11 of a second.
Wild, who became a Russian citizen in 2011 after marrying fellow snowboarder Alena Zavarzina, also won in parallel giant slalom a few days ago; Zavarzina won bronze on the women’s side in that event.
Thanks to today’s events, Wild and Kosir become the first snowboarders to win multiple medals in a single Olympics; Kosir won the bronze in men’s PGS.
In women’s parallel slalom, the day belonged to Julia Dujmovits of Austria after she won over Germany’s Anke Karstens by .12 of a second.
Dujmovits pulled it off despite being seven-tenths of a second down to Karstens after the first run of the Big Final.
Karl and Germany’s Amelie Kober each came away with bronze medals.
Once again, Justin Reiter was the lone American to compete in today’s event. Unfortunately for him, he missed a gate in qualifying and was disqualified.
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MEN’S SNOWBOARDING - PARALLEL SLALOM
1. Vic Wild (RUS), Won Big Final by .11 seconds
2. Zan Kosir (SLO)
3. Benjamin Karl (AUT), Won Big Final by 16.25 seconds
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DQ - Justin Reiter (USA)
WOMEN’S SNOWBOARDING - PARALLEL SLALOM
1. Julia Dujmovits (AUT), Won Big Final by .12 seconds
2. Anke Karstens (GER)
3. Amelie Kober (GER), Won Small Final by .13 seconds
