Ledecka makes history again while Fischnaller stuns the snowboard world
Mar 20, 2025·Snowboard Alpine)
The FIS Snowboard Alpine World Championships began with a bang on Thursday. Snow sport superstar Ester Ledecka (CZE) made history once again. On the men’s side, veteran Roland Fischnaller (ITA) stunned the world with his second world championship title, ten years after his first. It was a day full of high-flying racing and some stunning surprises.
Ledecka makes history once again
The best snowboard alpine riders began their world champs journey with the PGS individual race. It was set up to be a dramatic showdown between Tsubaki Miki (JPN), Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER) and the red-hot Sabine Payer (AUT) with home favorites Ladina Caviezel and Julie Zogg (SUI) looking to mix it up.
Then a wild card in the form of a two-time world champion came to spoil the party. Ledecka entered the field after skipping the majority of the snowboard alpine world cup season while focusing on skiing. She won the first world cup event of the season and then ditched her board for skis this year.
Ledecka already made history in her career as the first female athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in two different disciplines. On Saturday she became the first athlete to win two FIS world championship medals in the same season in two different disciplines. Ledecka dominated the field in PGS, showing off her unmatched skill to capture her third snowboard alpine world championship title. It goes along with her bronze medal from the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in the downhill earlier this year.
Ledecka adds to her 2015 and 2017 world titles in snowboard alpine. Despite so many accolades the Czech rider shed some tears of joy following the win.
Ledecka spoiled Miki’s title defense. The Japanese star fought all the way to the end in the big final but was just edged out by Ledecka. Miki settled for second after winning the PGS in 2023.
The other favorite Hofmeister shockingly missed qualification for the final rounds. She will look to bounce back on Saturday in the PSL race.
Rounding out the podium was Aleksandra Krol-Walas (POL). She repeated her bronze-medal performance from the PGS world championship race in 2023. Krol-Wales took third by beating home-crowd favorite Caviezel by 0.14 seconds.
Krol-Walas was overjoyed with emotion after crossing the line. She missed the final world cup race due to injury and decided to go all in on preparation for the world championships.
Caviezel and her Swiss teammate Zogg had strong showings, finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Payer suffered a DNF in a dramatic race against Zogg. Zogg stumbled early but fought back until Payer fell of course at the final gates to send Zogg through in the quarterfinals.
Fischnaller shows he still has the goods
Fischnaller made just two podiums this World Cup season including a win in Krynica earlier this month. The 44-year-old proved he can still compete at the highest level as he fought his way through the bracket all the way to the top of the PGS podium.
The Italian celebrates his second world championship title after winning the PSL title in Lachtal 2015. The two golds go along with his three world championship silvers and two bronzes. Not a bad resume alongside 23 World Cup victories.
It was a dramatic big final as Fischnaller beat Stefan Baumeister (GER) by 0.09 seconds in a photo finish.
Baumeister takes second, giving him three world championship podiums. He took third in the PSL and PGS events at Salt Lake City 2019. It was a another strong surprise on the day as Baumeister failed to podium this World Cup season.
Rounding out the podium was Lee Sangho (KOR). The Korean was fastest in qualifying and ended in third after winning the small final by default. Dario Caviezel (SUI) was going for the bronze and caught an edge sending him into Lee’s path. Caviezel was disqualified and Lee took third. It is the first career world championship medal for Lee even more impressive as he was dealing with an injury that caused him to miss a month of the World Cup season.
Caviezel settled for fourth in front of the roaring Swiss crowd failing to defend his silver medal from 2023.
Andreas Prommegger (AUT) and Maurizio Bormolini (ITA) were two of the favorites before the day but ended tied for fifth after being eliminated in the quarterfinals. Alexander Payer (AUT) took the bronze in 2023 but suffered a DNF in the first knockout round on Thursday.
The snowboard alpine world championship action continues on Saturday with qualifications of the parallel slalom individual race at 9:00 CET with the finals beginning at 13:30 CET.
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