Age is but a number to Austrian snowboarder Benjamin Karl. The 40-year-old won his second consecutive gold medal in the parallel giant slalom on Sunday, and he made Winter Olympic history in the process.
Karl beat silver medalist Sangkyum Kim’s time by 0.19 seconds to defend his title in the parallel giant slalom after taking home gold at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. Karl’s win at the age of 40 years and 115 days made him the oldest individual gold medalist in Winter Olympics history.
That topped the previous record of 40 years and 12 days, which was set by Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjorndalen in 2014.
Upon winning his second consecutive gold medal, Karl did what anyone would do. He ripped off layer after layer of clothing until he was bare-chested in frigid weather, flexed and fell into the snow. Speaking with reporters after the race, Karl said the celebration wasn’t as chilly as it appeared.
“We have four runs, it was really long, we are sweating full gas — it’s like you’re coming out from the sauna,” Karl said, per the Associated Press. “I wanted to lay longer in the snow to cool down.”
This gold medal was the fourth Olympic medal of Karl’s career. In addition to his two gold medals, Karl won a silver medal in 2010 and a bronze medal in 2014.
U.S. notches gold in team figure skating event
Hours after Breezy Johnson got the United States on the board with gold in the women’s downhill skiing event, Team USA tacked on another gold medal in team figure skating.
Figure skating phenom Ilia Malinin, 21, sealed the medal with an exhilarating individual performance. With a score of 200.03, Malinin put the United States in first place, but Japan still had a chance to win the even with Shun Sato skating last.
Sato put up an impressive score of 194.86, but it wasn’t quite enough to top Malinin and push Japan past the Americans on the podium. For the second consecutive Olympics, the United States has finished first in team figure skating.
There will be plenty more opportunities for the U.S. to medal on the ice as the individual events begin on Monday.
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