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Wild Winter Olympics celebration has viewers creasing as snowboarding title defended

Winter Olympics males’s parallel large slalom snowboarding champion Benjamin Karl celebrated by stripping half-naked and mendacity within the snow together with his chest uncovered

Benjamin Karl took the time to take off all of his protecting clothes earlier than celebrating topless (Picture: Getty)

Benjamin Karl celebrated defending his Winter Olympics parallel large slalom title by taking his high off and mendacity down within the snow. The Austrian was already one of the completed parallel snowboarders in historical past, and a second Olympic gold medal solely cemented his legacy.

Karl, 40, beat shock finalist Kim Sangkyum of South Korea and is now the primary athlete to win 4 Olympic medals in snowboard. His first got here 16 years in the past in Vancouver, when Karl took silver after shedding to Canada’s Jasey-Jay Anderson, and the second was a bronze in parallel slalom 4 years later in Sochi.

He got here fifth on the following Winter Olympics in PyeongChang earlier than bouncing again with gold at Beijing. Karl concludes his profession as an Olympic champion after saying again in November that “this can positively be my final season”.

The Austrian can also be a five-time world champion throughout parallel slalom and the enormous self-discipline. Nonetheless, his final of these golds was 5 years in the past in Rogla, Slovenia.

Snowboarding commentator Ed Leigh mentioned on BBC Two: “Unbelievable acceleration by means of the final 4 gates and Benjamin Karl makes it pay,” including: “It is like he had a turbo charger by means of the final gates.

Leigh continued: “A fourth Olympic medal and a second gold. The Austrian is probably the most dominant males’s parallel large slalom snowboarder of all time.”

Connor Lousbury mentioned: “Extra of this please.” Marisa Tigney added that Karl: “Proved that age is nothing however a quantity!”

Others subdued any celebrations by alluding to Karl’s conviction for negligent murder in 2022 after his involvement in a deadly automotive crash that killed a 70-year-old man and significantly injured his 69-year-old spouse when the snowboarder’s car skidded into oncoming visitors after not obeying the pace restrict in wet circumstances. The Austrian expressed regret and accepted full accountability, being handed a suspended three month sentence.

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