Austrian championships open ski cross competition season

The ski cross athletes will kick-off the 2019/20 competition season with the Austrian championships in Pitztal on Saturday, November 23. Opposed to the previous years, the competition will not be held on the Pitztal glacier, but on a sprint course in Mandarfen.
After the battle for the titles of male and female Austrian champions, an Europacup race will be held on Sunday, November 24, at which 18 nations will be attending the competitions, amongst others also the Canadian World Cup team including Sochi 2014 Olympic gold winner Marielle Thompson and PyeongChang 2018 Olympic gold winner Brady Leman.

Defending her Austrian champion title will be on the ladie’s side Andrea Limbacher, who has spent a great summer full of preparations for the upcoming season. “We have worked really good in the past weeks and months, physically I feel very fit and I am really happy to get the season started. The Austrian championships are a perfect start into the season and gives a great opportunity to enter into race mode again”, says a motivated Limbacher.

It is to be expected that on the ladie’s side we will see a duel between Andrea Limbacher and Katrin Ofner, who has already won 10 titles at the Austrian championships. After a left out season due to injury, she had not been able to compete in a single World Cup race in 2018/19, however the Austrian has left that fact in the past and is looking into the future saying: “This weekend will be a good orientation for me of where I stand within the really strong competition. I had a really good preparation and feel healthy and good. A sprint-format race however, has its own rules, which leaves no space for mistakes and especially when pulling out of the start gate, one has to give their best”.

On the men’s side, last year’s champion Robert Winkler is expecting a tight competition, claiming: „The start out of the gate is the crucial fact on a short course like this, but for me that has been working out really well lately. And I am also happy with my set-up, so we can start the season.”
Winkler’s competition is amongst others a list of well-known World Cup athletes like Sandro Siebenhofer, Johannes Rohrweck, Daniel Traxler, Johannes Aujesky, Adam Kappacher and of course veteran Christoph Wahrstötter.

Finals of the Austrian championships on Saturday, November 23, will go down at 13:00 CET and for the Europacup on Sunday, November 24, the finals are also scheduled for 13:00 CET.
   
The Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup will kick-off in exactly two weeks with its annual Cross Alps Tour, starting with the opening double races in Val Thorens, France, on December 6 and 7.

The full Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup calendar can be found HERE.

Check out some of last year's Pitztal action shots in the gallery below.