MOSCOW, January 26 (R-Sport) - United States-born snowboarder Vic Wild has won bronze for Russia at the world snowboard championships after switching nationality.
Wild moved to Russia in 2011 and won his first world championship medal in the parallel giant slalom in Stoneham, Canada, on Friday.
Austria’s Benjamin Karl won the event for his fourth world championship gold, with Italy’s Roland Fischnaller second.
Wild was given a Russian passport because of his marriage to Russia’s former world champion parallel giant slalom snowboarder Alena Zavarzina.
His arrival has made Russia competitive in a discipline in which it would otherwise be far from the medals. Wild’s three Russian-born teammates were 17th, 18th and 24th.
