Prommegger, 42, slayed team-mate and slalom specialist Auner in the big final by 0.44s but the 26-year-old was happy to come away with a first ever world medal. Austria just missed out on a 1-2-3 when Fabian Obmann was bested by Arnaud Gaudet in the small final, the Canadian throwing himself into the crowd in delight after claiming his nation’s first parallel snowboard medal since Jasey-Jay Anderson won gold, and Matthew Morison, bronze, in PGS at the 2009 World Championships in Gangwon, South Korea.
Prommegger used all his experience, including six Olympic Games and 22 victories on the World Cup tour to come out on top today. Some of the other heavyweights in the discipline struggled to progress with Stefan Baumeister (GER), Roland Fischnaller (ITA), Benny Karl (AUT) and Alex Payer (AUT) not making it through.
The biggest surprise was overall world tour leader and one of the favourites for this event, Maurizio Bormolini (ITA) seemingly coming out of his bindings early on to curtail any progress he was hoping to make in the knockout rounds, with his board sliding loose down the slope and almost taking out Lee Sangho. Thankfully the Korean progressed but a forlorn Bormolini trudged to the finish line, out of the competition.
Sunday’s winner in the PGS, Oskar Kwiatkowski (POL) did progress but was knocked out by Obmann in the first knockout round.
“It was so powerful riding today, it was tough,” said Prommegger post-race. “At the end, in the final, there was no visibility, so you had to trust in your feeling. I didn’t expect this result today. I believed in it, but I didn’t expect it because it was such a long day, all the breaks in there we were being in the tent and we didn’t know if it was going on or not, so it was hard to be on yourself to be concentrated.”
Citing experience being key especially when the next generation is snapping at your heels, Prommegger said: “You have to risk it all. It’s so difficult.”
