Skicross: Sonja Gigler is on the podium at the World Cup dress rehearsal

For Austria’s ski cross athletes, the second World Cup day on the Reiteralm went much better than the day before, when all ÖSV athletes were eliminated before the semifinals.

Because with Sonja Gigler there was still a podium finish for the hosts a week before the World Championships in Bakuriani. The 21-year-old from Vorarlberg came in a strong second place on Friday, one year after her World Cup debut at the same venue, her second podium ever after San Candido.

Gigler, sixth on the Reiteralm a year ago, only had to bow to serial winner Sandra Näslund. The Swede celebrated her 17th win in a row and also secured the overall World Cup victory three races before the end of the season.

“If you had told me a year ago that I would finish on the podium in the second race on the Reiteralm – amazing,” said Gigler happily.

Considering Näslund’s dominance, it’s almost a small win for Gigler, whose local family was keeping their fingers crossed. “I’m really happy, today we’re going to celebrate a bit,” she promised in an ORF TV interview.

Winkler reported back

In the men’s category, an Austrian also made it into the semi-finals. Somewhat surprisingly it was Robert Winkler, who had recently been badly injured in his right arm after a training fall. He then finished seventh overall in the small final. The victory went to the Swiss Jonas Lenherr (4th World Cup victory), Friday winner David Mobärg (SWE) missed the podium as fourth.

“It’s great, I’m a bit lost for words. Four months ago I was in the hospital and now I can drive in the first race again, that’s wonderful,” said the 32-year-old from Styria. With a bit of luck, he also made it into the semi-finals after a collision and a fall, which was decided by the jury, caused second-placed Youri Duplessis to fall back to fourth place. Winkler would only have been third.

For the other Austrians, the end came earlier: Andrea Limbacher and Christina Födermayr failed in the quarter-finals, Johannes Aujesky, who was ninth on Thursday, was eliminated this time in the round of 16, as were Tristan Takats (just behind Winkler in the heat) and Mathias Graf (after the photo finish).