In her best season

ÖSV lady aims for the podium at the Saalbach final

Ariane Rädler is performing better this season than ever before.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

ORF expert Alexandra Meissnitzer raves about Ariane Rädler on every run. And rightly so, as the 29-year-old from Vorarlberg is having the best season of her career so far. At the finale in Saalbach, she is now aiming to crown the season with her first podium finish of the winter.

"Normally you feel a certain tiredness at this point in the season. But that's not the case for me at all at the moment," says Ariane Rädler and she knows why. "It's partly because we've missed a few races, but it's also because I'm finally fit." 
That's right! Because unlike last winter, when she had an unfortunate fall during training in January and more or less had to call it a day after tearing an inner ligament in her thumb and tearing a hairline fracture in her fibula, she has been spared any major injuries this winter. For Rädler, however, a third circumstance is also important: "It has certainly helped me that the internal pressure to qualify has been removed and I have been able to prepare specifically from race to race."

Ariane Rädler has every reason to smile.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Better than ever before
The result: the Head driver - who has already suffered four cruciate ligament ruptures - is currently having the best points-scoring season of her career. With 310 points, "Ari" is the fifth best ÖSV lady in the overall World Cup behind Cornelia Hütter (768 points), Stephanie Venier (631), Mirjam Puchner (473) and Katharina Liensberger (447) and already has 33 points more in her account than in winter 2022, which she finished with 277 points.

Not yet at the limit
And there's still more to come this week, as Rädler is eligible to compete in both the downhill and super-G at the grand finale and trial gallop for the 2025 World Championships in Saalbach. "I've always liked the place and I'm delighted that I can be there," reveals Ari, who has already finished in the top 10 six times this winter. "From time to time I noticed that I wasn't quite at the limit yet. But now I have nothing to lose and want to take a bit more of a risk."

Victorious memories of Saalbach
A risk that will ideally be rewarded with her first podium finish since January 2022 - when she came third in the Zauchensee Super-G. "I already have one eye on it," admits Rädler, who was crowned Austrian Super-G champion in Saalbach on March 22, 2019. Who knows, maybe five years later to the day she will manage a similar hussar ride to the top in the World Cup Super-G.