Schairer and Haemmerle celebrate golden weekend in dramatic team final
BySportsbeat
Updated 26/03/2017 at 15:37 GMT
Markus Schairer and Alessandro Haemmerle ended their World Cup final weekend on a perfect note by taking top spot in the men's snowboard cross team final in Veysonnaz.
Markus Schairer #7 of Austria competes in the qualification round of the Toyota US Grand Prix at Solitude Mountain Resort on January 19, 2017 in Solitude, Utah.
Image credit: AFP
The Austrian duo delivered an almost faultless race in Switzerland, holding the lead from almost start to finish to blow away the rest of the field.
But it wasn't all cut and dry further down the field as an amazing podium battle saw the United States of America seemingly come from nowhere to take second place ahead of Canada.
After Russia had crashed out in the early stages, it looked as though Canadian duo Kevin Hill and Chris Robanske would be battling out for top spot with the Austrians.
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Austria win in Veysonnaz as winter sports season winds down
But as they moved ahead, suddenly the American team of Jonathan Cheever and Mick Dierdorff delivered a sensational finale to take the silver medal by the narrowest of margins, with a photo finish required to separate the teams.
Racing was far from straightforward under the dense Swiss fog, but Italy showed they were to handle it best to take World Cup gold in the women's competition.
That saw Michela Moioli and Raffaella Brutto pick up their second pairs victory – the first coming in Montafon in December 2013 – in comfortable style.
They were followed into second place by France's Nelly Moenne-Loccoz and Chloé Trespeuch, while there was to be a second podium on the final day of competition for Canada.
Carle Brenneman and Tess Critchlow helped them pick up third, while Russia rounded off the main final as Mariya Vasiltsova and Yulia Lapteva took fourth.
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