Para Alpine Worlds Crowns Downhill & GS champions

Wednesday was the much-anticipated Downhill Day at the FIS Para Alpine World Ski Championships in Espot (ESP).

On the men’s side it was the great day for Austria, who took home the gold in two of the three categories with Vision Impaired powerhouse Johannes Aichner taking the gold. His teammate Markus Salcher won the men’s standing category by a very slim 0.08 margin over Switzerland’s Robin Cuche. In the men’s sitting category it was Jesper Pedersen (NOR) winning the gold medal by a near one-second margin over Japan’s Taiki Morii.

In the women’s downhill it was the usual suspects who dominated the field as Italian Chiara Mazzel kept her medal record in tact in the Vision Impaired category. Germany’s Anna-Maria Rieder also continued her dominance in the standing category taking home yet another gold medal. In the women’s sitting category it was a new face on the top step of the podium in Barbara van Bergen claiming the gold medal.

Action continued on Thursday with the first technical event of the World Championships – the giant slalom.

In the men’s Vision Impaired category, Aigner met his match as Giacomo Bertagnolli (ITA) grabbed the gold medal in convincing fashion with more than a one-second lead. It was a tight two-man race for the men’s standing gold medal with the Frenchman Arthur Bauchet taking home the gold medal by a 0.48 margin over Switzerland’s Theo Gmeur. Rounding out the men’s action was the victory by Jesper Pedersen in the men’s sitting event. It was his second gold medal in as many days.

For the women, Veronika Aigner carried on the golden family tradition, taking the gold medal in convincing fashion in the Vision Impaired category. Sweden’s Ebba Aarsjoe added to her impressive medal haul in the standing category earning the gold medal also be a hefty margin against Rieder. Closing out the action was the victory of Anna-Lena Forster (GER) who got back to her winning ways on Thursday with also a very comfortable margin of victory.