Aigner, Årsjö, and Muraoka strike gold as Para Alpine Worlds kick-off in Maribor
Feb 08, 2025·Para Alpine)
Veronika Aigner (AUT), Ebba Årsjö (SWE) and Momoka Muraoka (JPN) won Giant Slalom golds as the 2025 Para Alpine Skiing World Championships got underway in Maribor on Saturday (8 February).
Days before her 22nd birthday, double Paralympic gold medallist Aigner – guided again by sister Elisabeth – overcame a stumble at the start of her first run to take a lead of 1.96 seconds over the field in the Vision Impaired category.
She almost doubled her advantage on the second run to finish 3.86 seconds clear of her rivals.
Italy’s Chiara Mazzel and guide Fabrizio Casal took silver with Elina Stary (guide Vanessa Josefa Arnold) a further 1.28 seconds back as Austria claimed gold and bronze.
“The first run was not so good because I failed to start, but it was OK,” reflected Veronika Aigner.
In the middle of her answer, Elisabeth joked, “The guide was perfect.”
Ebba Årsjö maintained her dominance of the Standing category to claim her seventh world title.
The 24-year-old Swede, who won four golds at the 2023 World Championships in Espot, Spain, was 4.30 seconds clear of Chinese skier Mengqiu Zhang. Audrey Crowley of the United States, at just 17, edged out Germany’s 2023 silver medallist Anna-Maria Rieder for bronze.
“It’s a World Championships. You have pressure,” Årsjö admitted afterwards. “The first run was almost icy and grippy. The second was more warm but a little bit slippery, I don’t know. But it was good.”
Two-time Paralympic gold medallist Momoka Muraoka denied Anna-Lena Forster (GER) a 10th world title in the Sitting category.
Muraoka led Spain’s Audrey Pascual Seco by 1.45 seconds after the first run with Forster marginally behind in third. Germany’s reigning champion put together an excellent second run to put pressure on the lead pair, and Pascual struggled to slip behind China’s Sitong Liu.
That left just Muraoka to go, and the Japanese – who returned to World Cup action this season after a two-year absence – went quickest again on the second run to take victory by 1.74 seconds. Liu was over three seconds further back in third with Pascual just missing out on the medals.
Speaking via a translator, Muraoka said she had felt a lot of pressure returning from two seasons away. But Team Japan was very emotional and proud of her victory.
In nine races since returning to the World Cup, the 27-year-old has not been off the podium with her sole win coming in her second race back, the Steinach am Brenner Super G.
The men’s Giant Slalom battle for gold will take place tomorrow. The women will be back in action in Maribor on Monday for the slalom.
