From the Crowne Plaza Hotel, where Austria’s swimmers checked in yesterday at three o’clock in the morning, you can see the racetrack where Formula 1 history was made on Sunday with the heartbeat finale between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. A circumstance that Bernhard Reitshammer does not particularly affect. Firstly, because the 27-year-old doesn’t care much about Formula 1, and secondly, the ASV Linz athletes and eleven other Austrian swimmers will be looking for short-course World Cup medals in the emirate from tomorrow.
That the native Tyrolean feels particularly comfortable in the 25-meter pool was only demonstrated a month ago when he celebrated the greatest success of his career to date with a bronze medal in the 100 meter medley in Kazan (Rus). It goes without saying that there is a level difference between continental and global championships. Also because some top athletes – including Austria’s Felix Auböck – and even entire nations did without the EM. The medals now hang correspondingly high. “With my current best time, I would work out a semi-final. With an improvement, a final could end,” said Reitshammer, who in addition to the 100 meter medley (advance on Saturday) still over 50 (Monday) and 100 meters chest (tomorrow) from Starting socket jumps.
The World Cup is the last act of the most eventful year of his career to date. After the Olympics, long and short course European Championships, Abu Dhabi is already the fourth major event for the all-rounder, who also participated in the International Swimming League (ISL) for the first time this year. “It was something completely different once,” enthused Reitshammer about the several weeks of events in Naples and Eindhoven, where he formed a team with international stars. “The training alone was awesome because you saw what the top people do differently,” said the army athlete, who thinks he has a good chance of being part of the next year’s edition.
A dry Christmas season
Even if Reithammer does not describe the busy schedule as draining (“That is too negative, it was a lot of fun after all.”), He is happy when the time finally comes after Abu Dhabi to recharge the batteries. How does he do it? “I’m going home to Tyrol and I won’t go into the water for a while.” To do this, he would like to meet old school friends and enjoy the winter a bit. However, Reithammer cannot stand completely without sport, which is why he will do a few cross-country skiing laps. That should create the basis for the coming season, which will culminate in the World Cup in Fukuoka in May.
Four Upper Austrians are in the World Cup squad:
Twelve Austrian swimmers will take part in the short course World Cup in Abu Dhabi, which will take place from tomorrow to Tuesday. Among them are Cornelia Pammer (USC Traun), Lena Kreundl, Simon Bucher and Bernhard Reitshammer (all ASV Linz), four Upper Austrians. The most promising medal candidate is the Lower Austrian Felix Auböck (SU Mödling), who competes over 200 and 400 meters freestyle. In addition, there are Claudia Hufnagl (USC Graz), Caroline Pilhatsch (AT Graz), Lena Grabowski (SU Neusiedl), Lena Opatril (SC Innsbruck), Nina Gangl (SU Mödling), Christopher Rothbauer (SVS Schwechat) and Heiko Gigler (SV Spittal ) in action. The final sessions (3 p.m. CET) will be broadcast on ORF Sport +.
Source: Nachrichten
