Snowboarding at the 2006 Torino Winter Games:

Switzerland’s Daniela Meuli came into this event as a heavy favorite. She had won the 2005 World Championship, had led the World Cup in 2003-04, 2004-05, and was leading in the 2005-06 season. In the qualifying she raced very conservatively, to avoid a fall, and qualified only sixth, behind the leader, Russia’s Yekaterina Tudegesheva. But once match racing started it was all Meuli. She won every run in the match races, finishing up with two easy wins in the final over Germany’s Amelie Kober to secure the gold medal. Tudegesheva lost in the quarters to Austria’s Doris Günther, who lost to Kober in the semis.