Three out of five competitions at the 2009 FIS Snowboard World Championships Gangwon, Korea presented by LG have been completed - six World Champions have been crowned after Fraenzi Maegert-Kohli (SUI) and Benjamin Karl (AUT) grabbed the gold medals in parallel slalom on Wednesday. Both had dominated the qualifiers before facing not only a strong rider field but also tough conditions. In the ladies' final, Kohli relegated Doris Guenther (AUT), who had won silver in Tuesday's PGS, to the second rank. Ekaterina Tudegesheva (RUS), the 2007 PGS World Champion, rounded out the podium edging off former PSL title holder Heidi Neururer (AUT) to the fourth spot.

On the men's side, Karl took his first World Championship title by beating Sylvain Dufour (FRA), Tuesday's silver medallist, in the final - a fantastic comeback after an injury and the missed podium yesterday when he placed fourth. In the battle for third, Patrick Bussler secured Germany's first medal by crossing the finish line ahead of Rok Flander (SLO).

FIS
21/01/2009