Scandinavia produced the biggest stars at the Alpine Skiing World Championships. Austria, as usual, came away with the last laugh.
Anja Paerson shook off a lousy World Cup season to win three straight events and become the first skier to collect world championship gold medals in all five disciplines.
Aksel Lund Svindal, meanwhile, stepped out of the shadow of his great Norwegian predecessors to win the downhill and giant slalom titles, making good on long-held expectations at home that he could pick up right where the recently retired Lasse Kjus and Kjetil Andre Aamodt left off.
Both Paerson and Svindal were buoyed by a large and frenzied home crowd -- which included hundreds of Norwegians -- as it was the first time since 1954 that the worlds were staged in Scandinavia. But it was more than just a home advantage that helped them reap medals, Svindal said.
"I have a good form and Anja has an amazing form," said Svindal, who won his first major championship titles and was the only man to leave Are with two individual golds. "It's not about where you are, it's about how strong you are at that moment."
"And the both of us, we do all five events, so that's more chances of winning, and then it's easier just to relax for each race and not put too much into it," he said.
Paerson, who entered the worlds winless this season, also added a bronze in the slalom and a silver in the team event to leave as the undisputed star -- at least in the absence of Janica Kostelic, who is taking the year off.
"I knew anything was possible, but for it to become reality was something I hadn't believed," Paerson said.
"Mentally, it's so tough to stand up there every day and recharge and find new energy. I can't understand myself how I've managed, actually." he said.
While the Scandinavians shone early, perennial Alpine powerhouse Austria was slow out of the gates.
The Austrian "Wunderteam" had no gold medals more than halfway into the championships, when Nicole Hosp finally ended the dry spell by winning the giant slalom. Mario Matt then wiped out all challengers in the slalom, winning by 1.81 seconds ahead of runner-up Manfred Moelgg of Italy -- the biggest winning margin since 1956.
Austria wrapped up the championships by winning the team event, overtaking runner-up Sweden in the medals table to finish -- as usual -- as the top nation with three golds and nine medals overall.
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