David Alaba was not yet allowed to lift a trophy after his appearance for Real Madrid against Shakhtar Donzek in the Champions League group stage yesterday. On the return flight home, a very special one is waiting for the ÖFB captain, Alaba put together his very personal three-pack in the Wiener Stadthalle in his absence. After 2013 and 2014, the 30-year-old secured the “Niki” for the Austrian athlete of the year for the third time – in the tightest election of all time. With 607 points, the lead over second-placed Matthias Mayer was only two points, over Johannes Strolz it was just twelve.
Thus, the round leather prevailed among the men against the two boards, which often mean the world, especially in Austria. Dominic Thiem most recently succeeded in 2020. With Mayer and Strolz, who was named climber of the year, the two ski aces showed themselves to be good losers and applauded diligently at the announcement. For the duo, the coming World Cup year also holds a great chance of “revenge”.
After a two-year break (Anna Kiesenhofer 2021, Ivona Dadic 2020), Anna Gasser fought back with women’s winter sports and thus also provided a small “rematch”. The Carinthian also accomplished the same feat as her male winner colleague: for the third time the Olympic champion was able to take home a “Niki” in 2022, with a remarkable 1084 points. Behind them were ski jumper Sara Marita Kramer (470) and table tennis player Sofia Polcanova (401).
Incidentally, record winners are still Annemarie Moser Proell (alpine skiing) and Claudia Loesch (para-ski) with seven titles, ahead of ex-ski star Marcel Hirscher with six awards and the ski jumping team with just as many titles.
Gasser was just in time
Gasser almost had to report via video message when her plane landed in Vienna just in time for the gala. Of course, the “Snowqueen” also had her partner Clemens Millauer with her. “We were training in Australia and New Zealand, for the first time since a three-year Covid break, Clemens and I were able to be there again,” said the three-time athlete of the year. “Taking Niki here is always a dream,” beamed the Carinthian, who reached into her bag of tricks for her outfit: “I borrowed the skirt from a good friend.”
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