Austrian Alpine Championships 2018

The first national titles were distributed in Austria on Tuesday, when Christine Scheyer, the winner of the 2017 Altenmarkt-Zauchensee World Cup downhill, claimed her first national champion title. There was some bad news from the race held in Saalbach, though, as Stephanie Brunner – fourth in the Sölden and Killington World Cups this season – suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in her left knee.

On Wednesday, both genders had their national championships in super-G. Ricarda Haaser, fourth in the giant slalom in Ofterschwang two weeks ago, took her third national title, after alpine combined in 2017 and giant slalom in 2016. On the men’s side, rising superstar Vincent Kriechmayr became national champion for the second time in a row in that discipline, in addition to his title in the alpine combined in 2017.

The race program in Saalbach went on with the men’s downhill on Friday. After two second places in the National Championships in his favorite discipline – the super-G (2012 and 2016) – Otmar Striedinger claimed his first Austrian Champion title in downhill. Coming back from an injury sustained in Wengen, the Austrian is very proud to conclude the season on this positive note.

In Reiteralm / Ramsau am Dachstein, the competitions went on with the ladies’ 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 in 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 a first national title, winning the slalom ahead of Marco Schwarz and Johannes Strolz. With this win, the Tiroler concludes his successful season, crowned by an Olympic bronze medal and three World Cup podiums.

The final day of the Austrian Championships arrived on Tuesday, when the ladies’ slalom and the men’s giant slalom were 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 up for grabs was the men’s giant slalom in Reiteralm, where Manuel Feller concluded his season with a win. It was his career-best World Cup season so far, with a second place in the giant slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and a fourth place in the discipline standings, all wrapped up with his national title.

Full results from this series in Saalbach are available here and the series in Reiteralm / Ramsau am Dachstein here.