Around 75,000 votes have arrived at the OÖN in the past few weeks – now the audience favorites in the 48th OÖN athletes’ election, held jointly with the state of Upper Austria and the ORF, have been determined: the Oberbank Steelvolleys Linz-Steg, water ski ace Nicola Kuhn and ski Star Vincent Kriechmayr are the half-time winners.
The feeling of success is not new to the newly crowned Volleyball Supercup winners. For the fifth time in a row, the steel volleys around captain Lisa-Marie Hager are at the top of the voting end. “We’ve had great successes in recent years. It’s all the nicer when these are noticed and honored,” the 25-year-old alludes to about three championship trophies. Last year Steg also managed to win the title “Team of the Year” for the first time. Whether the volleyball players can defend this will be known at the ceremony on November 3rd in the Palais Kaufmännischer Verein in Linz. Before that, a jury of experts decides on the outcome (see mode below).
Kriechmayr: “I’m surprised”
In the men’s category, Kriechmayr leads ahead of paratriathlete Florian Brungraber and high-flyer Rainer Kepplinger. “I’m surprised how many votes I got. I thank you for every single one,” says Gramastettner. Surprised, since the 31-year-old is his own harshest critic and despite three World Cup victories, including the downhill in Wengen, he is not satisfied with last winter.
Kriechmayr benefited from a strong electoral community, as his fan club had allied with the steel volleys and Nicola Kuhn. The water ski flagship is considered to be a vote guarantor. “I tried to motivate as many of my family and friends as possible to vote,” says the 21-year-old. For Kuhn, too, the half-time victory in the choice of athletes is not new. However, since she won her first big adult medal this year with bronze in the slalom at the European Championships, she counts on chances of being on the podium of the top three in the final for the first time. Or is there more? Sofia Polcanova, who is one of the favorites thanks to her two table tennis European Championship titles, is at least within striking distance as fourth in the public vote.
The men’s field seems more balanced. Defending champion Lukas Weißhaidinger finds himself seventh after a disappointing season. Shamil Borchashvili was more successful this year. In the election, however, the judoka was outside the top ten for a long time and only made it to eighth place after bronze at the World Championships. Is that still recoverable?
Record winner LASK (6th) certainly dribbled their way into the election final of the top ten, but others pushed themselves more for the title “Team of the Year”. For example the decathlon union, which is the best athletics club in Austria for the tenth time.
The choice in numbers
74,570 votes were (mainly) submitted online and with ballot papers from the OÖN editions for the athletes’ election.
11 times LASK voted “Team of the Year”, which puts the footballers at the top of the all-time list of the best.
48th edition: The OÖN athletes’ choice is taking place for the 48th time this year. The premiere winners in 1975 were Karin Danninger (athletics) and Ludwig Kretz (bike).
Procedure of the OÖN athlete election
audience choice: The first part is now over. Until October 21, everyone could vote for their favorites online at nachrichten.at or by hand using the ballot papers from the OÖN editions. There were 20 women, men and teams to choose from. Their pre-selection was made by a committee consisting of representatives of the sports state of Upper Austria, the umbrella and professional associations, the ORF and the OÖN.
Jury vote: The top ten of the audience votes are presented to an expert jury, which includes the former winners Theresia Kiesl, Christoph Etzlstorfer, Hannes Trinkl and Andreas Goldberger. Each juror assigns points from ten to one, with the public vote being included as two expert votes. The winners will be honored on November 3rd in the Palais Kaufmännischer Verein in Linz.
final result of the public vote
ladies
1. Nicola Kuhn, water skiing 7312 votes
2. Clara Sommer, Cycling 2873
3. Susanne Gogl-Walli, Athletics 2124
4. Sofia Polcanova, table tennis 1964
5. Emma Dallinger, Fistball 1827
6. Victoria Hahn, Weightlifting 976
7. Emily Starzer, Judo 954
8. Lena Kreundl, swimming 938
9. Franziska Sterrer, climbing 791
10. Laura Wienroither, Soccer 635
11. Barbara Haas, Tennis 619
12. Elisabeth Reisinger, Alpine skiing 561
13. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger, ski jumping 459
14. Tina Unterberger, natural track tobogganing 453
15. Christina Födermayr, Ski Cross 426
16. Marlene Jahl, Taekwondo 343
17. Sigrun Kleinrath, North. Combination 334
18. Lea Siegl, equestrian sport 330
19. Bettina Plank, Karate 296
20. Yvonne Marzinke, Paracycling 193
Men’s
1. Vincent Kriechmayr, Alpine skiing 6258 votes
2. Florian Brungraber, Paratriathlon 3669
3. Rainer Kepplinger, Cycling 2468
4. Thomas Preining, Motorsports 2074
5. Daniel Hemetsberger, Alpine Skiing 1556
6. Kevin Kamenschak, Athletics 1225
7. Lukas Weißhaidinger, Athletics 1107
8.Shamil Borchashvili, Judo 1051
9. Daniel Friedrich, Basketball 957
10. Sargis Martirosyan, weightlifting 876
11. Josef Mahringer, Fencing 865
12. Bernhard Reitshammer, swimming 864
13. Gernot Trauner, football 721
14. Simon Bucher, swimming 511
15. Johannes Rohrweck, Skicross 501
16. Felix Grossschartner, Cycling 400
17. Ahmed Hagag, boxing 248
18. Daniel Guttenberger, Billiards 245
19. Julian Schöberl, rowing 119
20. Clemens Millauer, snowboard 39
teams
1. Steel volleyball Linz-Steg, volleyball 5805 St.
2. Hrinkow Advarics Cycleang, Cycling 2966
3rd TGW Decathlon Union, Athletics 2890
4. Union Tigers Vöcklabruck, Fistball 1778
5. HC Linz AG, Handball 1573
6. LASK, football 1329
7. LZ Multikraft Wels, Judo 1041
8th RRC Top Show ASKÖ Traun, Rock ‘n’ Roll 1009
9. SK Vöest Linz, weightlifting 930
10.OCS Swans Gmunden, Basketball 905
11. SPG Felbermayr Wels, table tennis 813
12. SPG Kleinmünchen/BW Linz, football 738
13. Linz AG Froschberg, table tennis 665
14. Linz AG Team Upper Austria, tennis 599
15. Steinbach Black Wings Linz, ice hockey 468
. UKRV snail Linz, canoe 468
17. SV Guntamatic Ried, football 441
18. BSC70 Linz, Badminton 180
19. Union Stein & Co. Mauthausen, Tennis 153
20. UHC Linz, Floorball 70
Source: Nachrichten
