In a stunning men's and women's parallel giant slalom (PGS) competitions at Milan Cortina 2026, both reigning world champions and 1st-place qualifiers, Czech Ester Ledecka and Italian Roland Fischnaller, were eliminated during the quarterfinal races in their respective contests. Ledecka, the two-time Olympic gold medalist, was denied a three-peat in a shocking upset during her race against Austrian Sabine Payer, who later claimed silver.
"I was trying my best. I did a mistake and that's what happens," Ledecka said of her quarterfinal race. "Then I was always behind, I was trying to catch up. ...But Sabine did also a great run, so this time she was faster."
Fischnaller pushed too hard after a small mistake at the top of the course, causing him to miss a gate and not finish.
"Same mistake as usual, since 20 years. I was going too straight," Fischnaller said of his mistake at his seventh Olympics. He made his Olympic debut at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. "That's the worst thing to do, and I did it. It was a big mistake from my mindset, and that's it."
Ledecka's teammate Zuzana Maderova flew onto the course during the big final to gain an early lead over Payer and become the new Olympic champion in women's PGS.
"I was a little sad about it," Maderova said about Ledecka not making the big final with her. "I am so happy I am Olympic champion."
Austrian Benjamin Karl successfully defended his title in the men's event. Kim Sang-Kyum of South Korea slid into 2nd, only 0.19 seconds behind Karl.
The men's small final race ended in a thrilling photo finish that saw Bulgaria's Tervel Zamfirov snatch the bronze medal away from Slovenian Tim Mastnak.
"It was super stressful," Zamfirov said. "It was the most intense one minute of my life, just watching and wondering if I'm third or fourth. But I'm happy it turned out this way."
Out of a stacked field in both contests, it wasn't the expected Italian men who found the podium. Italian Lucia Dalmasso earned bronze in a tight race against countrywoman Elisa Caffont.
"I'm really excited, and I'm going to cry. I've been dreaming about this medal for a long time and now it's here. I don't even know what to say," Dalmasso said.
Italian medal favorites Aaron March and Mirko Felicetti were upset by Mastnak. March, the No. 2 seed after qualifying, lost to Mastnak, the No. 15 seed, in the round of 16. Felicetti was eliminated after falling behind in his quarterfinal race against Mastnak and not finishing. Maurizio Bormolini of Italy was eliminated in a narrow race against Karl in the round of 16.
Karl broke American Nick Baumgartner's record for oldest Olympic snowboarding medalist at 40 years, 3 months and 23 days (Baumgartner was 40 years, 1 month and 26 days). Karl proved that he was still at the top of the game 16 years after earning silver in PGS at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He announced that the 2025-2026 Olympics season would be his last. Karl celebrated his win by ripping off three layers of shirts at the end of the course.
"It was a tribute to Hermann Maier, maybe you know him? He was one of the greatest skiers of all time in Austria and he once did this. I always wanted to do the same," Karl said. "I needed to wait 25 years to make this pose like Hermann Maier. Now I did it and this is the crown of my career."
Americans Cody Winters and Iris Pflum finished 21st and 30th in their respective competitions.
Men's parallel giant slalom medalists
🥇Benjamin Karl (AUT)
🥈Kim Sang-Kyum (KOR)
🥉Tervel Zamfirov (BUL)
Women's parallel giant slalom medalists
🥇Zuzana Maderova (CZE)
🥈Sabine Payer (AUT)
🥉Lucia Dalmasso (ITA)