Karl adds snowboarding PGS crown to World Championship gold

By Sportsbeat Staff

AUSTRIA's Benjamin Karl got the ninth place he needed to seal the FIS Parallel Giant Slalom Snowboarding World Cup title at the final round in Arosa, Switzerland.

DOUBLE CHAMPION: Benjamin Karl's ninth-placed finish was enough to win the parallel giant slalom World Cup title

Austrian teammate Andreas Prommegger earned his fifth win of the season beating Roland Fischnaller in the final to pip the Italian to second in the final standings.

But despite Prommegger's best efforts,  it was not enough to deny Karl - who ultimately had the title in the bag before the final showdown having notched the fastest qualifying time in the morning.

"I accomplished everything this season," said the 25-year-old Karl who won double gold at the World Championships in La Molina in Spain in February.

"I didn't have the ultimate will to win. It was a long season. I won six times this winter. My head is just empty."

Meanwhile Fraenzi Maegert-Kohli caused a surprise as she downed parallel champion Ekaterina Tudegesheva in the women's giant slalom final.

Russian Tudegesheva won the overall crown with victory in Valmalenco last weekend but she slipped to her first final defeat against home girl Maegert-Kohli, who finished second in the final standings.

"I believed that I could make it and beat Ekaterina," said 2009 champion Maegert-Kohli.

"She finally made a big mistake today. But although I had the advantage of the penalty time, I still had to mobilize all of my strengths in order to bring down a good second run in the finals.

"Winning on home turf is the best thing on earth."