Italian snowboarders win inaugural WCup team event

Published Dec. 19, 2014 6:23 a.m. ET

foxsports

MONTAFON, Austria (AP) Italian snowboarders Roland Fischnaller and Nadya Ochner beat Russia in the final of the inaugural World Cup parallel slalom team event on Friday.

It was Fischnaller's third World Cup triumph in four days after winning individual races in Carezza on Tuesday and in Montafon on Thursday.

Under the new format, two teams go head-to-head on parallel courses. The women race first and their finish will automatically open the start gate for their male teammates. The man coming first wins the heat for his team.

In the final, Fischnaller and Ochner defeated Russians Andrey Sobolev and Natalia Soboleva by 0.05 seconds. Another Russian team, led by double Olympic champion Vic Wild, lost in the quarterfinals.

Japan's Masaki Shiba and Tomoka Takeuchi finished third after defeating Germany's Alexander Bergmann and Amelie Kober.