Three in the top 4

ÖSV men steal the show from the Germans

Patrick Feurstein won the German giant slalom championships in Pfelders, South Tyrol.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

After the end of the World Cup season, it's all about the national titles. And on Sunday, the ÖSV men proved to be a big party scare for our "favorite neighbors"! At the German giant slalom championships in South Tyrol, Patrick Feurstein from Vorarlberg triumphed and a total of three Austrians made it into the top four.

While the World Cup season didn't really go to plan for Patrick Feurstein from Mellau and he missed out on the grand final in Saalbach in 31st place in the giant slalom rankings, he is now getting better and better. After coming third in the Swiss RTL Championships in Lenzerheide just under two weeks ago behind Loic Meillard and Gino Caviezel and finishing in third place at the Italian championships in Val Senales on Saturday, the 27-year-old snatched victory at the German championships in Pfelders (South Tyrol) on Sunday.

The past World Cup season was not easy for Patrick Feurstein.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Austrians strong as a team
With number 13, Feurstein was only 0.22 seconds behind Jonas Stockinger (D) in the first run, who recently took the overall victory in the European Cup giant slalom classification. With Adrian Pertl (+0.90) from Carinthia in fourth place and the two Tyroleans Felix Marksteiner (+1.11) and Dominik Raschner (+1.17) in seventh and eighth place, four ÖSV men were in the top 10 at the halfway point, with Fabio Gstrein (+1.62) from Sölden in twelfth place.

Fabiuo Gstrein improved to third place with a dream run in the final.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Gstrein made a great jump with a dream run
And he then produced a real dream run in the final, setting the absolute best time. Only second-placed Patrick Feurstein was able to push his team-mate off the top spot by 0.42 seconds and complete a red-white-red triple lead - Adrian Pertl had positioned himself 36 hundredths behind Gstrein. Half-time leader Jonas Stockinger then showed an ambitious run and also set the fifth time in the second run. However, this was not enough for victory, and in the end he finished 0.05 seconds behind Feurstein in second place. 
It was the police athlete's first ever championship title at national championships, having finished second and third at the Austrian championships in 2022 and 2023.