As competition moved 40 kilometres away from Kreischberg itself to the Latchal Valley, Czech rising star Ledecka kept the momentum after winning the last World Cup race in Bad Gastein two weeks ago to take home the first ever snowboard world title for her home country.

Ledecka made just one mistake en route to victory, shortly sitting down in the snow in the first qualification run, but recovered to qualify in second.

She then beat Austria's Julia Dujmovits to snowboard parallel slalom gold on the 400m course, with another Austrian Marion Kreiner coming home in third following victory over Germany's Selina Joerg.

"I don't know what to say," said Ledecka, a two-time junior world champion in 2013

"I'm still young enough to compete at the Junior World Championships, so this is just amazing.

"It's like a dream come true.

"Bad Gastein was definitely a good sign for me.

"Every race, every slope and course is different.

"This course was very long so there was room for many mistakes."

The snowboard parallel slalom took place at Latchal alley 40km away from Kreischberg ©FIS



Italy's Roland Fischnaller took top honours in the men's contest as he finally added world gold to his extensive list of accolades.

The 24-year-old had already been enjoying a season to remember with World Cup victories in the parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom last month.

The four-time Olympian beat Russia's Andrey Sobolev to the top prize while Slovakia's 2013 world champion Rok Marguc edged Italian Aaron March for bronze.

"I worked very hard and long for this title," said Fischnaller.

"It didn't looked good in the beginning of the season when I suffered a laceration of the tendon in my right tight.

"I'm still racing in pain but I have a good feeling on the boards.

"So, today I just went for it; although the course wasn't set for me.

"I had to go to my limits to win today.

"I'm very proud that I made it."

Meanwhile, US star Kyle Smaine won ski halfpipe gold  with a score of 88.0 from his first run, enough to finish narrowly ahead of Joffrey Pollet-Villard of France and Switzerland's Yannic Lerjen.

But there was Swiss success in the women's competition as Virginie Faivre took gold with 83.80 points, to push Canada's Cassie Sharpe into second while another Swiss skier, Mirjam Jaeger, finished third.

The ski halfpipe competition has caused much controversy in the snow sports circle due to a scheduling conflict with the X Games in Aspen.

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