The gala night was one for brackets “Concerns of the heart”

With 2,500 guests in the booming Brucknerhaus in Linz, the OÖN gala night of sports yesterday was reminiscent of the heyday before “Corona break” connected. The atmosphere in the most beautiful ballroom in the country was brilliant with celebrities and adabei. One of the highlights: Franz Klemm was with the “Sports Life Award Austria”which has previously been awarded to greats such as Franz Beckenbauer, Boris Becker, Katharina Witt and Toni Innauer.

Even before the spectacular opening with song contest starter Nathan Trent and violinist Allegra Tinnefeld, this gala night was a winner “Concerns of the heart”. Together with Andreas Goldberger there was a meeting with the Upper Austrian cardiologist Helmut Pürerfellner, who in his role as European President of Cardiac Rhythmologists is currently running a campaign for the “Global Pulse Day” on March 1st. Bracket and Goldberger have their hearts in the right place and spontaneously joined in as supporters of this project.

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Thomas Dreßen’s heart was probably also pounding when he was celebrated for the first time on the stage of the Brucknerhaus in his adopted home of Upper Austria. On the occasion of the end of his career, the 30-year-old Kitzbühel winner from 2018 was honored by State Sports Councilor Markus Achleitner. Incidentally, the busy politician, like Governor Thomas Stelzer, presenter Silvia Schneider and Labor Minister Martin Kocher, attended the Linz Gala Night at the Opera Ball in Vienna on Thursday evening “warmed up”. Another federal politician, Sports Minister and Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler, was at the ball level in the Brucknerhaus.

The big sporting topics on stage were the Summer Olympics in Paris and the European Football Championships in Germany. Susanne Gogl-Walli, Upper Austria’s Athlete of the Year 2023, already has her ticket in her pocket, unlike rowing ace Magdalena Lobnig. Para-triathlete Florian Brungraber is also a regular starter in Paris.

ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick will be at the European Championships, but he canceled the gala yesterday with a heavy heart. At the Nations League draw on Thursday in Paris he caught a virus that brought him to his knees. It wasn’t football fever.