The 41-year-old also gave Austria their first gold medal at the Championships as she beat 2011 world champion Alena Zavarzina in the big final.

Riegler, who competed in her first snowboard World Cup event back in 1994, was delighted with the long-overdue victory in front of her home crowd.

"It's cool when you win such a big title at my age," she said.

"But age is only a number.

"If everything comes together, I'm still able to mix it at the top.

"You set your own limits though."

In what was her 294th start, Riegler finally completed the full set of medals, adding gold to silver and bronze medals that she achieved at the 2011 Championships in La Molina.

"It's been my ninth World Champs and I finally got gold," she said.

"I liked the course, felt good and knew it would be possible, I finally achieved my goal."

Andrey Sobolev was the surprise winner of the men's event as he claimed Russia's first ever snowboarding world title ©Getty Images



Meanwhile, history was also made in the men's event as Andrey Sobolev, who claimed silver in yesterday's parallel slalom competition, became the first Russian to win a snowboarding world title, beating Slovakian Zan Kosir in the final.

The 25-year-old was able to build on the platform he set yesterday by earning what was a surprise victory.

"I wasn't thinking of anything like this but it feels great," he said.

"I didn't have any ambitions for today.

"But having a medal already to my belt gave me a lot of confidence.

"I felt comfortable today and didn't worry about racing at all."

Benjamin Kraut, Austria's reigning champion, finished third at the penultimate event of the competition, which was held 40 kilometres away from the normal venue at Kreischberg.

The World Championships are due return to Kreischberg tomorrow with the big air finals for both the men and the women.

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