Austria Celebrates National Champions

National titles were distributed in Austria and Italy last week as the two alpine powerhouse nations hosted their respective championships in Saalbach, Reiteralm/Ramsau, and Styria, Austria.

In Austria, Christine Scheyer, the winner of the 2017 Altenmarkt-Zauchensee World Cup downhill, claimed her first national championship title in that discipline at the 2018 championships in Saalbach. Unfortunately, bad news was accompanying the race as Stephanie Brunner — who finished fourth in both the Soelden and Killington World Cup giant slaloms this season — suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in her left knee.

The next day, both genders had their national championships in super-g. Ricarda Haaser, who finished fourth in the GS in the World Cup in Ofterschwang, Germany, took her third national title after winning the alpine combined in 2017 and GS in 2016. On the men’s side, the rising Austrian star Vincent Kriechmayr became national champion for the second time in a row in super-G, in addition to his title in alpine combined from 2017.

The race program in Saalbach went on with the men’s downhill on Friday. After two second-place finishes in the national championship super-G in 2012 and 2016, Otmar Striedinger claimed his first Austrian championship title in the downhill. Coming back from an injury suffered in Wengen, Switzerland, the Austrian was very proud to conclude the season on this positive note.

In Reiteralm/Ramsau am Dachstein, the competitions went on with the women’s giant slalom and the men’s slalom. Elisabeth Kappaurer was able to defend her title in giant slalom, becoming Austrian champion for the second time in that discipline. The young athlete from Vorarlberg entered the top 30 in GS on the World Cup this season with a career best 12th place in that discipline in Lienz in December. On the men’s side, Michael Matt finally claimed his first national title, winning the slalom ahead of Marco Schwarz and Johannes Strolz. With this win, the Tiroler concluded his successful season, highlighted by an Olympic slalom bronze medal and three World Cup podiums.

The final day of the Austrian championships took place on Tuesday with the ladies’ slalom and the men’s giant slalom being held in Styria. Bernadette Schild, who claimed two podiums on the World Cup in slalom this season (second in Flachau, third in Killington), was able to snag her first national title in Ramsau am Dachstein. The last title to grab was the men’s giant slalom on the Reiteralm, where Manuel Feller concluded his season with a win. It was his best World Cup season in career so far, with a second place in the giant slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and a fourth place in the cup standings in that discipline.

For complete Austrian results, click here.

Release courtesy of FIS