HOENGSEONG, South Korea — Austria's Benjamin Karl and Switzerland's Fraenzi Maegert-Kohli overcame tough conditions to win gold Wednesday in snowboarding's parallel slalom championship.

Coming off a recent foot injury, Karl grabbed his first worlds title by beating Sylvain Dufour of France. Dufour wound up with his second silver of the week.

"I pushed myself before each run today," Karl said. "It was about making fewer mistakes than your opponent because of the tough conditions."

Patrick Bussler of Germany beat Rok Flander of Slovakia for the bronze — Germany's first medal of the World Cup championships.

Maegert-Kohli won the women's title by beating Doris Guenther of Austria. Like Dufour, Guenther wound up with her second silver of the championships.

Ekaterina Tudegesheva of Russia, the 2007 world champion in the parallel giant slalom, took bronze after beating defending parallel slalom champion Heidi Neururer of Austria.

The competition at Hyundai Sungwoo Resort in Gangwon Province is the first snowboard world championships held in Asia, with 614 athletes from 45 countries registered to compete in five disciplines: snowboardcross, parallel giant slalom, parallel slalom, half pipe and big air.

Markus Schairer of Austria and Helene Olafsen of Norway won the first golds of the championship in the snowboardcross competition Sunday, while Jasey Jay Anderson of Canada and Marion Kreiner of Austria claimed the parallel giant slalom titles Tuesday.