Sportsman of the year

Simon Berchtold brought a Niki to Vorarlberg

Sports Minister Werner Kogler, Sporthilfe President Susanne Riess-Hahn and Dominic Thiem were delighted with Simon Berchtold and Veronica Kaube.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Olympic sailing champion Lukas Mähr was not the only Vorarlberger to celebrate at the Lotterien Sporthilfe Gala in Vienna's Stadthalle on Thursday evening and receive one of the coveted NIKI trophies. Bregenzerwald Special Olympics ski ace Simon Berchtold was also honored for his outstanding achievements.

The 36-year-old Schwarzenberger's list of successes is long. Very long! And it doesn't just include alpine skiing. In 2011, for example, Berchtold performed well with the unified team at the World Summer Games in the Greek capital Athens, taking fourth place.

NIKI winner Simon Berchtold with the overall Alpine World Cup winner of the 2006/07 season, Niki Hosp.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

However, Berchtold, who is Vorarlberg's sixth athlete of the year in the Special Olympics category after Christoph Mathies (2001/tennis), Thomas Praxmarer (2010/alpine skiing), Gabriele Kopf (2019/swimming), Lukas Kaufmann (2020/alpine skiing) and Jürgen Rojko (2023/tennis), celebrated his greatest successes on skis.

The man from Bregenzerwald, who works as a dairyman and has been a member of Special Olympics Vorarlberg since 2002, won gold in the super-G and silver in the giant slalom in the advanced class at the national Winter Games last winter.