FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships 2023. Pictured from left are the Norwegians in silver, the Americans in gold and the Canadians in bronze in Méribel on February 14, 2023.
Méribel (France) – The United States surprisingly won the team competition at the World Alpine Skiing Championships. Even though Team USA did not have Mikaela Shiffrin, the current best skier in the world, they progressed in the duels in the parallel giant slalom to the final, where they dealt with the defending gold medalist Norway. The Czechs Martina Dubovská, Jan Zabystřan, Adriana Jelínková and Filip Forejtek were eliminated for the fifth time in a row at the world championship in the first round, this time after a close defeat to Italy.
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Photo gallery: 2023 World Championships in downhill skiing
The Americans relied on Paula Moltzan, Nina O'Brien, Rivera Radamus and Tommy Ford. On their way to the final, they successively defeated Poland, Italy and Canada. They faced Norway in the final and thanks to O'Brien they took the lead. Alexander Steen Olsen won today's fourth duel in Norwegian colors and equalized.
Unexpectedly, the deadlock remained even after the duel between Moltzan and Thea Louise Stjernesund. They had the same time for the hundredth, so they both got a point. The final fight between Ford and Timon Haug was thus decided. The Norwegian skier could not handle the pressure, he almost fell on his head at the start and the decision was made. The Americans thus won the first medal in this competition at the world championship.
Austria, which triumphed at the Olympic Games last year, finished without a valuable metal. However, it was not enough for Norway in the semi-finals, and in the fight for bronze, Canada surpassed him.
The Czechs drew 2:2 with favored Italy in the round of 16, but had a worse total of the best man's and best woman's times. The key was the defeat of Zabystřan, who was only a hundredth slower than Alex Vinatzer in his duel in the parallel giant slalom.
Dubovská had previously lost to Lara Della Mea, so the Czech Republic was losing 0:2. Giant slalom specialist Jelínková immediately won her race against Beatrice Solaová, and in the end Forejtek managed the same against Filippo Della Vite. However, in the sum of the key performances, the Czechs were two tenths of a second short of advancing.
“I think we gave a great team performance, it's a great shame. We were reaching for progress. Very good performances for all four. I hope that all four will evaluate these good performances in the next races,” said coach Jan Fiedler in a recording for the media. The last time the Czech Republic advanced to the quarterfinals of the team competition at the World Cup was in 2013 in Schladming.
Jelínková made her debut in the Czech team at the world championship. “Too bad, we almost made it,” she regretted. “My ride was good, maybe I could have gone a little faster at the top. It was nice, I enjoyed it a lot and I'm proud of us,” she added.
World Downhill Skiing Championship in Méribel (France) :
Parallel team race:
1. USA (O'Brien, Radamus, Moltzan, Ford), 2. Norway (Lysdahl, Steen Olsen, Stjernesudn, Haugan), 3. Canada (Grenier, J. Read, Richardson, E. Read), 4. Austria, 5. Switzerland, 6. Germany, …10. Czech Republic (Dubovská, Zabystřan, Jelínková, Forejtek).
