MERIBEL (Reuters) -The United States beat Norway to claim gold in the team parallel event at the Alpine skiing world championships on Tuesday.
The quartet of Tommy Ford, Paula Moltzan, River Radamus and Nina O’Brien helped the U.S. to a 3-2 win over Norway, with Ford taking advantage of Timon Haugan falling over at the starting gate to clinch the last run after Moltzan tied with Thea Louise Stjernesund in the third run of the final.
“It was really special,” said Radamus, who was part of the U.S. team that finished fourth in the event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. “I love these team events because it’s something we don’t get to do all the time; compete as a team.
“It can seem like ski racing is an individual sport but really these people, these guys and girls I am on a team with, they’re my family. We are competing and training together all year long.
“So, to get to do it with Tommy and with Nina, Paula, Katie (Hensien) and Luke (Winters) is really special to me. It brings out a different level in me whenever I get to compete like that.”
Haugan was left playing catch up after he slammed his skis into his gate before it dropped. He fell over and by the time he got back up, Ford had left his rival chasing shadows in the 23-second race.
American Mikaela Shiffrin, who took her 12th career world championship medal with silver in the super-G last week, did not compete in the event.
Canada took bronze after beating Austria in the third-place race. The bronze medal race was decided on combined times after finishing 2-2.
In the semi-finals, USA and Norway earned 3-1 wins over Canada and Austria respectively.
The men’s and women’s parallel races take place on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in BengaluruEditing by Christian Radnedge and Pritha Sarkar)
