Parallel Giant Slalom, Men

An American won the gold medal in the parallel giant slalom, but he won it for Russia. Vic Wild grew up in Washington state and became a top Alpine snowboarder, but the Alpine snowboard events were not supported by the US ski federation, which left Wild fighting for funds to continue training. In 2010 Wild had met Russian snowboarder Alyona Zavarzina, and they married in 2011. With the marriage Wild was able to apply for Russian citizenship and their federation was more than willing to support a medal contender, so Wild began competing for Russia in 2012.

The final came down to Wild against Swiss rider Nevin Galmarini. Galmarini won the first run but Wild’s margin on the second run gave him the gold medal, only a few minutes after his wife, Zavarzina, won a bronze medal in the women’s parallel giant slalom. Slovenian Žan Košir won the bronze medal race, defeating German Patrick Büssler. Many of the favorites crashed out early. The last three gold medals had been won by Philipp Schoch (SUI) in 2002-06 and Jasey Jay Anderson (CAN) in 2010 but they both went out in the 1/8th-finals. Two Austrian favorites also struggled as 2013 World Champion Benjamin Karl went out in the quarters, and 2013/14 World Cup leader Lukas Mathies did not make it past qualifying.

Wild thanked the Russian team for their support, noting that he did not speak Russian, and that many of his teammates helped him, stating, “I don’t think many of them like me, but I really appreciate it.”