Europe 1 with AFP 6:13 p.m., February 14, 2023
The United States were crowned mixed team parallel world champions on Tuesday in Méribel by dominating Norway in the final of an event shunned by the best skiers like Mikaela Shiffrin or Lindsey Vonn.
Led by Nina O'Brien, Paula Moltzan, River Radamus and Tommy Ford, the United States were crowned mixed team parallel world champions on Tuesday at the World Ski Championships currently taking place in Méribel and Courchevel. In France.
The Americans got the better of Norway's Thea Louise Stjernesund, Kristin Lysdahl, Timon Haugan and Alexander Steen Olsen in the final.
The United States took turns eliminating Poland, Italy and Canada to reach the final, all without their star Mikaela Shiffrin who, like most of the best skiers in the world, did not take part in this event. secondary.
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A criticized competition
The “Team event”, disputed once a year in the World Cup during the finals and for a few years during the major championships (World or Olympic Games), is not unanimous.
Wanted as telegenic, these face-to-face are sometimes victims of a complex regulation and the difficulty for the organizers to propose two perfectly equivalent routes.
In Méribel, the red course and the blue course seemed equal during the races.
But, as a symbol, while the suspense was total before the last duel of the final, the Norwegian Timon Haugan stumbled in the starting gate, giving the race a fishtail ending.
Canada (Jeffrey and Erik Read, Valérie Grenier and Britt Richardson) beat Olympic champions Austria in the small final to claim bronze.
Participation in the team event was made difficult for some skiers by the start of individual parallel qualifications at the other site of the Worlds, in Courchevel, at the end of the afternoon.