Anna Kiesenhofer and Vincent Kriechmayr / Image: GEPA pictures
Anna Kiesenhofer and Vincent Kriechmayr are Austria's “Athlete of the Year 2021”. The Olympic champion from Tokyo was the first female cyclist to be awarded the NIKI trophy on Thursday. For men, Kriechmayr continued the proud tradition of alpine skiers. Football champion Red Bull Salzburg was honored for the fourth time in a row as “Team of the Year” at the Vienna Konzerthaus.
The lottery sports aid gala was held for the first time in the concert hall. A prominent visitor among the around 900 guests was Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, who announced cross-country skier Carina Edlinger and handbiker Walter Ablinger to huge applause as athletes of the year with a disability. “Your dedication is something very special,” said “VdB”, who was described by ORF presenter Rainer Pariasek as the “safety car in the country” in view of the current political situation.
At the anniversary gala on the occasion of 50 years of Austrian Sporthilfe and 25 years of Lotteries Sporthilfe-Gala, the largest domestic sporting moment of the past 50 years was searched for and found. “Golden moment” is the fall of ski star Hermann Maier in Nagano in 1998. There was a standing ovation in the hall for the Salzburg man. “It was juvenile recklessness,” said the visibly moved Maier with tears in his eyes. Three days after his fall of the century in Japan, the Salzburg man won gold in the Super-G and later also the giant slalom.
After her surprise victory from Japan, Kiesenhofer (30) now also hurried away from her “competitors” in the domestic athlete selection. With 1,299 points, the mathematician and part-time racing cyclist clearly won ahead of biathlon world champion Lisa Hauser (762) and double ski world champion Katharina Liensberger (641). She is the first woman to join the small group of pedals, namely Richard Menapace (1949), Adolf Christian (1957 / ex aequo with Toni Sailer) and Georg Totschnig (2005), who had previously won the election that had been held since 1949.
Kiesenhofer: “Only knew choice from hearsay”
“For me it depends on the spirit of the sport. We all try our best,” said the surprise Olympic champion on stage in the company of several prominent predecessors led by record winner Annemarie Moser-Pröll. The moment is more surreal than her Olympic victory, said the Lower Austrian. “So far I only knew the choice of the athlete of the year from hearsay. I never thought I'd win.” Last year the award went to athlete Ivona Dadic.
Kriechmayr (30), the double world champion from Cortina d'Ampezzo, won the election (265 people voted) with 837 points ahead of Lukas Weißhaidinger, the bronze discus thrower at the Tokyo Summer Games (629) and climbing world champion as well as Olympic bronze medalist Jakob Schubert (412).
Kriechmayr: “A great honor”
“It is a great honor to be able to win that. Austria is not the largest country. But we have incredible athletes,” said Kriechmayr, who referred to Maier as his role model. “Now I'm making sure I'm preparing for the first World Cup race, that's in a week,” added the Upper Austrian with a view to Sölden.
Speed specialist Kriechmayr follows tennis ace Dominic Thiem. For the seventh time in the past ten years, a skier has triumphed in the men's category. Overall, Austria is and remains a winter sports country, having won 102 times from winter sports (44 women, 45 men, 13 teams) and 61 times from summer sports (16/24/21).
Once again, the Salzburg soccer team lived up to their reputation as a series winner. Austria's top soccer player has won the trophy for the fourth time in a row – in front of the women’s ÖSV ski jumping team. “May it continue like this,” said Zlatko Junuzovic.
Johannes Lamparter (Nordic Combined) was named “Newcomer of the Year” by online audience voting. Markus Lahmer is an athlete with a heart. Sarah-Maria Baumegger (swimming) and Alexander Flechl (golf) won the “Special Olympics” category. For the third time, the coach of the year was Gregor Högler (athletics), Weisshaidinger's coach.
The Norwegian ex-ski star Aksel Lund Svindal (39) immortalized his footprints for the road of the winner in concrete before the gala and chatted about the upcoming film “Aksel”. This highlights the last career years of the five-time world champion and two-time Olympic and overall World Cup winner, who retired in 2019. Austria's skiing legend Franz Klammer (67), whose film “Klammer – Chasing the Line” can still be seen in October, was also a guest at the gala, as was the young actor Julian Waldner who played him.
