Photo finish decided

Relapse in alpine times cost Fleisch silver

Johannes Aujesky (center) won the national title on the Reiteralm ahead of Tristan Takats (left) and Simon Fleisch (right).(Bild: Ski Austria/Thomas Zangerl)

Although the Vorarlberg Ski Association had to withdraw the defending champions Sonja Gigler (cruciate ligament rupture) and Mathias Graf (back injury) from the national championships due to injury, the Vorarlberg Ski Association was once again able to celebrate two medals. Responsible for this: Leonie Lussnig from Oberland and Simon Fleisch from Montafon.

"I was actually expecting second place," admitted Simon Fleisch from Tschagguns after finishing second behind Johannes Aujesky (Upper Austria) in the grand final at the national championships on the Reiteralm. "Unfortunately, I then had a relapse into my alpine times when I crossed the finish line," groaned the 23-year-old. "In ski cross, the first part of your body counts in a photo finish decision, so you reach for the front. In the alpine, you reach down to trigger the timing as early as possible."

In the photo finish, Tristan Takats (h.) was ultimately a hand's breadth ahead of Simon Fleisch and took silver.(Bild: Ski Austria)

Three Vorarlberg athletes in the semi-finals
Tristan Takats (Upper Austria) took advantage of this faux pas to snatch silver from Fleisch. "I'm also very happy with bronze," said the Atomic pilot, who had managed to beat his Vorarlberg compatriots Claudio Andreatta and Nici Lussnig in the semi-finals. After an incident with Adam Kappacher from Salzburg, he crashed heavily, complained of pain in his right leg and had to skip the small final, but Lussnig finished fifth. "In general, I'm happy with my performance. Unfortunately, I made a mistake at the start in the semifinals and then just lagged behind," said the 22-year-old.

Leonie Lussnig (l.) took silver behind Tyrolean Magdalena Fritz (M.). Bronze went to Christina Födermayr from Upper Austria.(Bild: Ski Austria/Thomas Zangerl)

Semi-final incident slows Lussnig down
His sister Leonie was delighted to take silver in the women's event behind Mäggy Fritz (T) and ahead of Chrissi Födermayr (Upper Austria). "Unfortunately, I was knocked off in the semi-final and therefore had no chance of making it to the final," said the 18-year-old. "But in general I certainly can't complain about silver, after all it's my first season in ski cross."