Anna Gasser wins Austria's "Sportswoman of the Year" award

Austria’s Anna Gasser was recognized as her nation’s “Sportswoman of the Year” at the Lotterien Sporthilfe Gala presented by Generali on Wednesday evening in Vienna, the third time the 31-year-old snowboard superstar has been awarded the “Niki” trophy as Austria’s top female athlete.

Gasser’s 2021/22 season will be most well-remembered for her remarkable repeat performance as Olympic big air champion, when she stepped up to stomp a cab double cork 1260 on her final run of the competition to walk away as the Beijing 2022 gold medallist.

However, it wasn’t just at the Games where Gasser excelled, as she also claimed podiums in four out of four World Cup competitions in 2022/23, with three runner-up results and a victory at the season finale Silvaplana slopestyle World Cup - all of which added up to a second-place finish on the FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe overall rankings.

Anna Gasser proved last year that there’s still plenty left in the tank for one of the most experienced riders on the contest circuit, and her Austrian “Sportswoman of the Year” honour is fitting recognition for another incredible season in a career that has been full of them.

With 21 career World Cup podiums Gasser currently sits in fourth on the all-time women’s rankings for freestyle snowboarders, with both Kelly Clark (USA) (22 career World Cup podiums), and Liu Jaiyu (CHN) (23 career World Cup podiums) within striking distance for the Austrian next season.