NEWRY – Every course is different in World Cup snowboard parallel giant slalom, but from week to week, one constant, for the most part, is the competition.

Nowhere was that more true than at Sunday River on Thursday.

Germany’s Amelie Kober outdueled Tomoka Takeuchi of Japan for the second consecutive week in the women’s World Cup parallel giant slalom, and Austrian Benjamin Karl bested countryman Siegfried Grabner – also for the second week in a row – to earn individual honors at the circuit’s lone stop in the United States.

“It was the same final like last week in Canada,” Karl said. “I had a lot of fun this time, and it was a great fight against (Grabner). I’m super happy that I’m the winner.”

“I knew she would race strong,” Kober said. “I knew she would come at me hard. We had the same final last week, but I’m lucky. She made a little mistake and I made a mistake. It was a good race.”

With a second-place finish, though, Grabner moved into first place in the World Cup overall standings, while Karl’s top finish slid him into third.

Seth Wescott, who does not compete in the parallel giant slalom, slid to seventh, though his specialty, the snowboardcross event, gets under way Friday.

On the women’s side, overall leader Doris Guenther placed seventh Thursday and retained her overall lead over Lindsey Jacobellis of the United States, pushing that margin to 1,080 points. Jacobellis, like Wescott, does not race in this event.

In the parallel GS standings, Grabner and Karl are 1-2 on the men’s side.

“I had really tough competitors against me today, and I’m happy that I got through the world champion of GS again. It feels great. I think after (defeating) Simon (Schoh, in the Round of 16), I changed my line, took it a little bit straighter in the steep part, and that made up the 100ths of a second I needed to win.”

Guenther’s lead over Takeuchi is down to about 1,000 points. With the win, Kober nosed her way to within 18 points of Takeuchi in third position.

“It was a difficult ride, but I’m very happy about this result,” Kober said. “I didn’t expect that. I was so nervous, and my legs felt empty. I didn’t feel like I had power.”

Team Canada appeared poised to make a run at the top spot in both the men’s and women’s races, but both Jasey Jay Anderson and Alexa Loo slipped up in the semifinal.

“I tried too hard on that run, I tipped myself,” Anderson said. “He beat me the last event, I blew myself out against him, and I wanted to make sure I got him this time, and I tried too hard.”

Both Anderson and Loo earned bronze, though, by winning the event’s small final.

The best U.S. finisher in either race was Michelle Gorgone, a Boston native.

“We’ve never had a World Cup race in New England as long as I’ve been racing,” Gorgone said. “It was cool to be so close, and the whole feel is nice. I hadn’t been home in a month, so I’m excited I get to sleep in my own bed tonight, and my family got to come watch.”

She certainly put on a show, too. The two tightest races of the afternoon’s elimination rounds involved Gorgone. The first, in the round of 16, she won. The second, in the quarterfinals, she lost after skidding out of her second run.

“I kind of got a little off-balance,” Gorgone said. “I don’t know, it is what it is. I felt good today. Sometimes, you go to a course and you feel like it was just made for you, and sometimes you know you’re well-matched. Today was one of those days where it was well-matched. It was in reach, but I wasn’t going to be blowing anyone else away.”

The World Cup event at Sunday River continues Friday with the qualifying rounds of the snowboardcross event, and will conclude with that event’s finals Saturday.