Norwegians crowd parallel podium at alpine worlds
The Associated Press | Posted: February 15, 2023 1:29 PM | Last Updated: February 15, 2023
Maria Therese Tviberg scores women's gold while teammates collect bronze
Norwegian skiers collected three of the six medals in the individual parallel events at the Alpine skiing world championships on Wednesday.
Maria Therese Tviberg of Norway and Alexander Schmid of Germany won gold in the women's and men's races, respectively.
Tviberg beat Wendy Holdener of Switzerland in the women's final and Schmid beat Dominik Raschner of Austria in the men's final.
Norwegians earned bronze in both events, with Thea Louise Stjernesund finishing third in the women's event and Timon Haugan in the men's event.
"We train it every year. Not everybody prepares for it," Tviberg said. "We think every medal counts and we try to go for it."
Norway also finished second to the United States in the team parallel race on Tuesday, having won the world title two years ago — to go with team event bronzes at the last two Olympics.
Tviberg cried after the semifinal when she realized she had earned the first individual podium result of her career, then threw her white gloves into the air after the final.
"It's really emotional for me," she said.
WATCH | Men's and women's parallel:
Holdener earned her second silver of the competition, having also finished second in the combined race that opened worlds.
Stjernesund took the bronze when local favorite Marie Lamure of France lost her left ski midway down in the small final.
Schmid helped Germany to the silver medal in the team event at last year's Beijing Olympics and was on the team that took bronze at the last worlds, when he finished fourth in the individual parallel.
Four of Schmid's five World Cup podium results have also come in either individual or team parallel.
"I'm really proud of myself," Schmid said.
Racers took a rope tow back up to the finish after each of their runs in the four-round, direct elimination event.
A day prior, the Canadian team of Valerie Grenier, Jeffrey Read, Britt Richardson and Erik Read captured bronze in the team parallel event.
WATCH | Canadians capture bronze:
Tuesday's bronze in the team parallel event matches Canada's medal total of three from the 1958, 1968 and 2017 worlds.
WATCH | Read reacts to historic medal: