Caviezel, meanwhile, had knocked out one of the legends of the sport, Austria’s Andreas Prommegger, in the quarter finals while World Cup overall tour leader Payer, bounced top qualifier and second ranked to him in this season’s standings so far, Maurizio Bormolini (ITA), in the same round.
Additional shocks in the men’s event saw the likes of Arvid Auner (AUT), Stefan Baumeister (GER), Edwin Coratti (ITA), Roland Fischnaller (ITA) – second at the last world championships in Rogla, Slovenia in 2021 – and Aaron March (ITA) unable to progress past qualifying.
On being asked how he felt ahead of the team competition, which takes place on Wednesday and in which he’ll likely pair up with Krol, Kwiatkowski said: “I was checking Ola every heat, at the top, and I was so motivated… and I’m very happy to be on the podium with Ola, that’s amazing.”
The second of the three snowboard alpine races at the World Championships takes place on 21 February (PSL) and concludes with mixed parallel slalom on 22 February. A return to the World Cup tour post championships sees the Livigno (ITA) races cancelled, but races in Rogla (SLO) on 15 March and Berchtesgaden (GER) on 18-19 March round out the season.
