Alexander Schmid and Maria Therese Tviberg win parallel giant slaloms in 2023 world championships at Courchevel Meribel

Updated 15/02/2023 at 14:06 GMT

Germany and Norway claimed a gold medal each at the 2023 Alpine World Ski Championships in Courchevel-Meribel after two thrilling races in the men's and women's parallel giant slaloms. Alexander Schmid claimed Germany's first individual gold medal at these championships since 1989, while Maria Therese Tviberg overcame Wendy Holdener in the women's big final.

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Alexander Schmid and Maria Therese Tviberg were victorious in the men’s and women’s parallel slaloms in two scintillating races at the 2023 Alpine World Ski Championships.

Tviberg overcame Wendy Holdener in the women's big final. Meanwhile, Tviberg’s compatriot Thea Louise Stjernesund overcame home favourite Marie Lamure in the small final to win bronze.

Schmid claimed Germany’s first individual gold medal at the World Championships since 1989 after beating Austria’s Dominik Raschner in the men’s big final. Bronze went to Timon Haugan of Norway, who edged out Adrian Pertl of Austria in the small final.

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There was drama straight from the beginning in a gripping afternoon of skiing action at Courchevel-Meribel.

The big shock of the last 16 in the women’s event saw joint-defending champion Marta Bassino knocked out by Frenchwoman Lamure. Nina O’Brien of the USA also did brilliantly to edge out Germany’s Lena Duerr by 0.05 seconds.

Alexis Pinturault was arguably the most high-profile early exit in the men’s race as he lost to Norwegian starlet Alexander Steen Olsen.

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Meanwhile, River Radamus missed out on another medal after being part of the victorious USA mixed team parallel success as he crashed out against Adrian Pertl of Austria.

Timon Haugan was targeting redemption after his costly trip in the final race of the big final against the USA on Monday, and he finished 0.01 seconds ahead of Rasmus Windingstad to reach the semi-finals.

He would face Schmid in the last four, after the German overcame Zan Kranjec of Slovakia in the quarters.

An all-Austrian affair was lined up in the other semi-final, with a tantalising showdown between Raschner and Pertl, which saw the former come out on top.

Aside from the day’s winners, Lamure was undoubtedly the story of the day after following up her amazing Bassino scalp by dumping out Franziska Gritsch of Austria.

However, she ran out of steam in the semis after scoring a DNF in her second run against Holdener to miss out on a place in the big final.

The fine margins did not quite fall in Lamure’s favour after she lost a ski in her second run against Stjernesund in her heroic, but ultimately unsuccessful pursuit of a podium place.

Tviberg and Holdener had identical times in the first run of women's big final, and it was the Norwegian that was triumphant in a straight second-run shootout for gold.

Alexander Schmid won the men's parallel giant slalom.

Image credit: Getty Images

Meanwhile, Schmid was faultless is his quest for gold to overcame Haugan and Raschner in the semi-final and final respectively.

From a country perspective, it was a fine day for Norway, who added three medals to their overall tally and included a first gold of the championships thanks to Tviberg.

They remain third in the overall medal table, behind Italy and Switzerland.

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