On Friday, ski racer Veronika Aigner won the women’s giant slalom with guide and sister Elisabeth Aigner in Yanqing, while her younger sister Barbara secured the bronze medal with guide Klara Sykora. Elina Stary (Guide Celine Arthofer), the 15-year-old daughter of ex-soccer player Roman Stary, missed the podium in fourth place.
“It just worked out perfectly. When Lisi told me at the finish that we had won, we both had to yell,” said Veronika Aigner. In the end, the 19-year-old from Lower Austria was 7.31 seconds ahead of Zhu Daqing from China. The sisters didn’t want to rest on their three-second lead at half-time. “We said we’d step on the gas again. It’s often fast, tactics are never good. We should have succeeded,” explained Elisabeth Aigner.
19-year-old Veronika Aigner has a long history of accidents and injuries. In February 2021, she injured both knees so badly during downhill training in Saalbach that a long break was necessary after a cruciate ligament and meniscus tear. In November she also had a serious car accident, she had to skip the Para Ski World Championships.
“I already had to think about the hard time after the first round because I felt my knees a bit. It was a very mixed year, but I really wanted to go to Beijing. It’s very emotional when I think back to it. I have to I want to thank a lot of people, especially my family. It’s great that we can be on the podium together here.”
16-year-old Barbara Aigner, Johannes Aigner’s twin sister, was “overjoyed” after winning the medal. After the strong World Championships we were favorites and under pressure, but now we have a medal. It’s an unbelievably nice feeling”. Guide Klara Sykora, the daughter of Thomas Sykora, who won Olympic bronze in slalom in Nagano in 1998, is convinced that her father is “of course very proud” of her.
The Paralympic Team Austria already has four gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals. Six of these belong to the Aigner family, as Johannes won the giant slalom and the downhill with guide Matteo Fleischmann, as well as silver in the combination and bronze in the Super-G.
Source: Nachrichten
