Austria 4 Beat Italy 2 by 0.52 Seconds in Carinthia Mixed-Team Race
Sabine Payer erased Friday’s quarter-final exit by anchoring Austria 4 to a 0.52-second victory over Italy 2 in Saturday’s mixed-team Parallel Giant Slalom on the Simonhöhe piste, pushing Andreas Prommegger to his first World Cup win since March 2025.
Austrian Duo Edge Italy in Tight Final
Prommegger and March matched strides through the men’s leg, yet the Austrian veteran carried a razor-thin lead into the hand-off. Payer exploded from the start wedge faster than Lucia Dalmasso, wobbled on the blue course mid-section, but kept enough board speed to trip the finish cells first. The 0.52-second margin is the second-closest mixed-team decision on the Alpine World Cup circuit this winter.
Prommegger, 45, Ends 11-Month Win Drought
Saturday’s result is Prommegger’s 32nd career World Cup triumph and his first since a PGS win in Krynica, Poland, almost eleven months ago. “The season has been rough—no podiums, constant re-booting of setups,” the Austrian said. “Crossing the line today felt like someone hit reset; the joy was back.” Prommegger, who turned 45 last month, becomes the oldest rider—male or female—to reach an Alpine Snowboard World Cup top step during the 2025-26 campaign.
Home Crowd Lifts Payer After Individual Loss
Payer admitted nerves mangled her timing in Friday’s individual quarter-final, yet the roar of a flag-waving Carinthian crowd steadied her pulses 24 hours later. “I could hear the bells from the lift line,” she said. “When you share the course with Andy, you know he’ll give you a cushion; my job was simply not to waste it.” The win is her first World Cup podium of any kind since December 2025 and Austria’s first mixed-team gold on home snow since Bad Gastein 2020.
Italy Keep Yellow Bib, USA Grab First Team Medal
March and Dalmasso’s second place keeps the leaders’ yellow bib on Italian shoulders after two of three scheduled mixed-team races. The pair won the season opener in Bad Gastein and now hold a 68-point buffer over Switzerland 1. In the bronze match, 19-year-old Walker Overstake and Iris Pflum slipped past Slovenia 1 when Pflum stretched an arm across the line first, handing the United States its first-ever World Cup team podium. The Americans had earlier shocked top seeds Italy 1—Maurizio Bormolini and Elisa Caffont—in the quarter-finals.
Swiss DQ Opens Door for Slovenia
Switzerland 1’s medal hopes vanished when Dario Caviezel straddled a gate flag in his quarter-final duel against Tim Mastnak, triggering an automatic disqualification. The call promoted Slovenia 1 into the small final and left Caviezel and partner Julie Zogg on 112 season points—second overall, 68 behind Italy. The next mixed-team showdown, and the final one before the Crystal Globe is awarded, lands in Winterberg, Germany, on 22 March.
Action Steps
- Track the discipline standings on FIS-Ski.com to see if Italy can clinch the Crystal Globe in Winterberg.
- Watch replays on Infront’s YouTube channel to study how Prommegger gains speed off each toe-side turn.
- If you ride alpine, set a training course with a 22-gate PGS rhythm—Payer credits that drill for her quick recovery.
- Plan viewing parties for 31 January, when Rogla hosts the last World Cup before Milano-Cortina 2026 opens on 6 February.
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