Gangwon 2024: Austria tops Sweden to win last alpine Youth Olympic gold in Mixed Team event
Alpine skiing action wrapped up at the Jeongseon High 1 Ski Resort with Maja Waroschitz leading Austria to the Mixed Team Parallel title at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG).
Alpine Skiing
Two-time individual gold medallist Maja Waroschitz led Austria to the mixed team title on Thursday (25 January) in the last alpine skiing event at the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Games (YOG).
On their way to gold, the Austrian team, represented by Waroschitz and Florian Neumayer, overcame Japan, Germany, and the USA, before beating Sweden in the big final.
This victory secures Austria's second mixed team title in the history of the Winter Youth Olympics, following their gold in the inaugural edition at Innsbruck 2012.
Sweden took silver. Bronze went to Finland, who beat the USA in the small final.
The format featured 16 teams, each consisting of two athletes from the same country (one female and one male). These teams competed in head-to-head parallel slalom races arranged in a bracket-style, single-elimination format. The team with the most points or the lowest combined time after four heats on two different courses (blue and red) advanced.
Racing was interrupted several times, causing a delay in the schedule due to injuries sustained by several skiers. Among them was the rising USA talent Annika Hunt, who crashed out in the semi-final and later had to be stretchered off by medical personnel.
Maja Waroschitz on winning three gold medals at Gangwon 2024: ‘It’s something special’
17-year-old Waroschitz won all of her matchups, except one, and was faster than some of the boys. “I like it [the Parallel] because of the fast turns, I love it. We don’t do it that often, but I liked it, it’s just so cool to race against another girl, skiing next to her, seeing where she is and just being concentrated on yourself. It’s something special.”
After two individual golds in combined and slalom, respectively, the Austrian comes away from Gangwon 2024 with three titles:
“It was such a nice experience. I never imagined that, it’s incredible, I can’t find words, it’s just amazing. Now I have to stay on the ground, show some good skiing, and just work hard. And then we will see where it goes.”
Gangwon 2024 - Alpine skiing: Team event results
Thursday, 26 January
Big Final
- Austria (Maja Waroschitz, Florian Neumayer) beat Sweden (Astrid Hedin, Elliot Westlund) (time breaking)
Small Final
- Finland (Amelie Bjorksten, Altti Pyrro) beat USA (Annika Hunt, Jevin Palmquist) 2-2 (time breaking)
Semifinal
- Sweden (Astrid Hedin, Elliot Westlund) beat Finland (Amelie Bjorksten, Altti Pyrro) 4-0
- Austria (Maja Waroschitz, Florian Neumayer) beat USA (Annika Hunt, Jevin Palmquist) 3-1
1/4th of Final
- Finland (Amelie Bjorksten, Altti Pyrro) beat Switzerland (Shaienne Zehnder, Romain Monney) 2-2 (time breaking)
- Sweden (Astrid Hedin, Elliot Westlund) beat France (Sara Testut—G Styr, Nash Huot-Marchand) 2-2 (time breaking)
- Austria (Maja Waroschitz, Florian Neumayer) beat Germany (Romy Ertl, Leo Scherer) 3-1
- USA (Annika Hunt, Jevin Palmquist) beat Italy (Camilla Vanni, Pietro Scesa) 2-2 (time breaking)
1/8th of Final
- Heat 1
Switzerland (Shaienne Zehnder, Romain Monney) beat Republic of South Korea (Lee Nayae, Kim Sehyun) 3-1 - Heat 2
Finland (Amelie Bjorksten, Altti Pyrro) beat Slovenia (Ana Bokal, Miha Oserban) 3-2 - Heat 3
Sweden (Astrid Hedin, Elliot Westlund) beat Great Britain (Molly Butler, Zak Carrick-Smith) 3-1 - Heat 4
France (Sara Testut—G Styr, Nash Huot-Marchand) beat Canada (Aida Draghia, Thomas Carnahan) 3-1 - Heat 5
Germany (Romy Ertl, Leo Scherer) beat Poland (Nikola Komorowska, Stanislaw Sarzynski) 2-2 (time breaking time) - Heat 6
Austria (Maja Waroschitz, Florian Neumayer) beat Japan (Onishi Mikoto, Kamada Neo) 3-1 - Heat 7
USA (Annika Hunt, Jevin Palmquist) beat Slovakia (Veronika Srobova, Andrej Barnas) 3-1 - Heat 8
Italy (Camilla Vanni, Pietro Scesa) beat Argentina (Milla Anwandter Szudruk, Nicolas Quintero) 3-1
Full results: here
How to watch alpine skiing highlights and replays from the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Games
Replays of action from the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympics is available worldwide and without subscription on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app.
Full replays and highlights of all six competition days for alpine skiing will be available, and you can catch highlights, reaction interview clips, news articles, and full results from the Republic of Korea across the website and official Olympics social media accounts.