First-ever Parallel World Champions crowned in Cortina
Feb 16, 2021·Alpine Skiing
Three new World Champions were crowned today in Cortina as Matthieu Faivre (FRA) and Marta Bassino (ITA) and Katharina Liensberger (AUT) all earned gold medals in today’s parallel World Championship debut.
Liensberger and Bassino ended in a rare tie for the gold medal, giving Cortina a bonus gold medalist.
Bassino entered the afternoon race with the pressure of being the big favorite after Petra Vlhova failed to make it out of the qualification round. Adding to the weight on her shoulders was the fact that the Italian team was without a medal at these home World Championships.
A quarterfinal match-up against teammate Federica Brignone guaranteed an Italian would be within striking distance for a medal and after winning that round, Bassino used the momentum and powered through the half final, defeating Tessa Worley. That set up the final match-up against Austrian Katharina Liensberger, which ultimately ended in the draw.
“I am happy today to get the medal for Italy and the organizers,” said Bassino. “It was not an easy day for sure, but to get Italy’s first medal makes me proud.”
Rounding out the women’s podium was Tessa Worley who defeated American Paula Moltzan.
On the men’s side Mathieu Faivre earned his first individual World Championship gold medal in a hard-fought men’s race that was also full of surprises. Faivre has one previous gold medal in the parallel team event, but none in an individual race.
Faivre faced off against Filip Zubcic in the finals and already in the first run held a large advantage. Zubcic bobbled on the last run of the day, allowing Faivre to cruise to the victory by 0.48 seconds.
Early favorite Loic Meillard, had to settle for the bronze medal after getting knocked out of the gold medal hunt by Zubcic. Still for the Swiss it was a positive day as he picked up his second medal of these World Championships, with his second bronze.
“I am really happy to win my first individual medal, but there is much that needs to be discussed after today,” said Faivre.
The discussion that Faivre was referring to was a discrepancy between the red and the blue courses which created for many uneven finishes in the second match-up between the athletes. Even the run/re-run format couldn’t make-up for the difference, which had many athletes seeing red at the end of the race.
Nevertheless, the young format produced a thrilling result with three gold medalists in its debut. Tomorrow, the parallel action continues with the team event.
