Mud wrestling, checkmate and more on Super Saturday

Day 4 of the Sport Austria Finals powered by the Austrian Lottery (May 29 to June 2, 2024) in Innsbruck and Tyrol. On Saturday, national titles were awarded in 26 sports, and some 3,000 athletes from Forgel to Telfs participated.

The cross-country triathlon around Rossau's quarry lake became a mud battle in which the favorites emerged victorious. There was a record title, a fantastical comeback story on the trampoline, and two new chess champions. Skaters impressed at the finals premiere.

Olympic participant Elisabeth Straka also showed her best at the national level.

Shooting

Three favorite wins and a surprise in shooting at the Austrian Sport Finals in Innsbruck. In the complex, both Nico Wiener and Rikarda Lukancic lived up to their favorite roles, and Elisabeth Straka also did so for the women on the Olympic curve. There has been a huge uproar in the men's Olympic discipline.

Wiener once again captured the Austrian national championship title. Burgenlander doesn't know how many awards he has already won. “There are about 30. Until a few years ago, my mother kept a list, and now we don't know exactly.”

The Innsbruck match will be remembered for a while longer: “It was very special to set foot on the 'Holy Grass'. If you know that Euro 2008 matches were played here, that's really cool.” In the women's competition, Ricarda Lucancic defeated Andrea Ratzer in the composite final with a score of 144:137.

The whole of Austria is currently talking about Elisabeth Straka in the Olympic Curve. The 24-year-old from Lower Austria, who recently qualified for the Olympic Games in Paris and was already first in the qualifiers, moved into the final with a 6-0 win over Anna Kinzler and Lisa Rohriger.

There she beat Elissa Meier 6:2. “I'm very happy with the title, but especially in terms of performance. I was able to hit consistently well in all rounds,” said Straka. “It was definitely the biggest national competition yet, shooting on the field and even being at ORF. It was definitely good preparation for the upcoming international competitions.”

Because in the summer Straka will go to the Olympic Games in Paris. “The moment I got my Olympic ticket in Essen was surreal. I looked at the judge twice to believe it. I'm looking forward to the Olympics, I will prepare as best I can and enjoy it.”

Among the men, 17-year-old Lower Austrian Jonas Molnar caused a sensation with his first title.

Trampoline

Tears don't lie! Sarah Hickley and Martin Spatt flew to the trampoline title at USI Innsbruck.

The Salzburg native also won the simultaneous competition with Amelie Fansch and is now No. 1 in the ÖSTM rankings of all time with eleven gold medals. “I really wanted a tenth title, and now I have eleven despite strong competition. I'm very happy that it went well today,” said the athlete from TGU Salzburg.

For the men, Sabat wrote a fairytale on the trampoline in the absence of Olympic entrant Benny Wizani. After his last singles win in 2015, the Austrian top had effectively finished his career before finding his way back into the sport only to suffer multiple knee injuries. Now celebrate the acclaimed return.

“It's so unbelievable actually, I'm almost at a loss for words.” Sports director Ingrid Hemmidinger was impressed by the athletes' performance: “Even without Benny (and Zani; note) we saw many performances at world level; such an Austrian level would have been unimaginable a few years ago.”

Cross triathlon

The favorites won the cross-country triathlon at the Sport Austria finals on Saturday. Marcel Spandl defended his title last year and won by more than a minute from Dominik Wischera. Noah Kunz came in third.

In the women's race, Karina Wassell won her home match at the Rossau Recreation Facility in Innsbruck by more than six minutes over Katja Kren and claimed her seventh state championship title. Lena Maria Eichner takes third place.

“The national championships on our soil are something special. There was also a certain amount of pressure, so now I am very happy that it worked out with the title,” says the Tyrolean runner, who, like the rest of the athletes, had to do so. Handling difficult conditions (lots of mud and low temperatures).

“The conditions were so tough today. Running was hell! Gripping in that mud when climbing was almost an art. And when it was cycling, there was so much mud that the chain and gears were out of place. Oh my goodness,” he said. “I didn't have any drawbacks,” Spandle said.

skateboard

The Innsbruck Skating Hall was the venue for the skateboarding premiere as part of the Austria Sport Finals.

After inline hockey and speed skating, this is the third Rollsport Austria sport to be held as part of the finals. Local hero Santino Exenberger lived up to his role as favorite and won the state championship title at the Garden.

“I managed two good laps, especially the second one was really strong. But the best thing was being on the podium with my friends,” said the Tyrolean, who relegated Chris Hafo and Fabian Trager to second and third.

“The judging was fair, so we can all live with the result, and tomorrow there will be the next test of strength,” Exenberger says, looking ahead to Sunday's Street decision. Future hope will also be Julia Placek at first.

chess

Speed ​​chess is fast, but blitz chess is lightning fast. On Saturday, the decisions in the Sport Austria finals were made in the high-speed version, with the match lasting only about ten minutes.

The 72 participants had to play eleven games and always watch the clock. Since the 2023 champions were not in the running, new state champions have been determined.

In the women's competition, Mandukhai Myagmaroren captured the state championship title with seven wins and one draw. Styria's Barbara Toschler (6.5) took silver, and Rica Horvath (6) was happy with bronze.

Felix Ploberger has managed to win nine of his eleven duels and is now victorious after finishing second last year. “The goal was the gold medal! After a good start, I ran into a small snag, but after the lunch break I was able to regain my speed,” says the Viennese player, who was one of three grandmasters at the tournament.

The other two, Dominik Horvath and David Shengelia, came in second and third.