Snowboarding-Austria's Karl wins men's PGS gold, Ledecka retains women's title

ZHANGJIAKOU, China :Austria's Benjamin Karl won gold in the men's snowboard parallel giant slalom at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday in a unexpected final where none of the last Games medallists took the podium, while Czech Ester Ledecka retained the women's title.

Another Austrian, Daniela Ulbing, took silver in the women's race with Gloria Kotnik of Slovenia the bronze. Kotnik burst into tears speaking to reporters after she made the podium for the first time.

"It's for my family," she said, dedicating the medal to her son. "I just want to make him and everyone proud."

Karl beat Slovenia's Tim Mastnak in the final men's race by 0.82 seconds, while twice gold medallist Vic Wild from the Russian Olympic Committee took bronze.

"I can't describe with words, I'm just happy and satisfied," Karl said, adding that winning gold had been his "life project".

In an earlier nail-biting men's quarter-final, South Korean favourite Lee Sang-ho, who won silver at the 2018 Games, lost by 0.01 seconds to Russian Wild.

Swiss Nevin Galmarini, the Pyeongchang gold medallist, washed out of the day's races in the qualification round.

Zan Kosir from Slovenia, who has won three Olympic medals including bronze in PGS in both Pyeongchang and Sochi, was another favourite who lost out in Tuesday's race.

He said he had spent a total of 11 days in quarantine after testing positive for COVID in Beijing. The isolation period, which lasted until three days ago, affected his mental state and prevented him from training, he added.

Kosir failed to finish his 1/8 final race against Italian rival Roland Fischnaller.

"It was difficult because there's nothing to do, you're locked in your room," he said, adding that he had "no information".

Asked if he would compete at