Big surprise

ÖSV veteran finishes on the podium at the age of 51 (!)

Claudia Riegler raced to second place.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

51-year-old Claudia Riegler caused a big surprise on Sunday in Yanqing. The ÖSV snowboard veteran only had to beat Japan's Tsubaki Miki, who is 30 years younger, by just 0.19 seconds in the final of the World Cup parallel slalom and finished second! 

Sabine Payer came fifth. In the men's event, Andreas Prommegger finished third, another red-white-red podium finish. Daniele Bagozza and Gabriel Messner achieved an Italian double victory.

Here is a video of the men's final:

Riegler had not finished on the podium last season, so the joy was correspondingly great. It was exactly her first podium finish since second place in Bad Gastein on 10 January 2023, and Riegler also performed excellently in her 14th individual final in total, giving Miki a fight to the finish. "I got really emotional when I made it to the grand final. A lot of thoughts went through my head about my mother (Viktoria, ed.), who went through a very difficult time in the summer. Luckily she's feeling better now, she fought really hard for that," said Riegler.

Here is a video of the women's final:

Riegler is also racing for her mother this season
She says her mother's fighting spirit is a great role model for her: "I'm also racing for her this season. I'm happy and grateful that I'm so fit and in such good shape. This is my first podium with a fiver before my age. I just want to show what's possible, and I did that very well today," said Riegler jubilantly.

Andreas Prommegger and Claudia Riegler took two podium places in the parallel slalom in Yanqing at the end of the China Tour.

(Bild: Snowboard Austria )

Sabine Payer (formerly Schöffmann) lost to Miki in the quarter-finals and had to hand over the overall leader's jersey to the Japanese racer. However, the Carinthian took stock of her trip to China with one win, one second place and two fifth places.

Prommegger with 57th individual podium place
Parallel slalom world champion Prommegger only lost out to eventual winner Bagozza by a wafer-thin margin in the semi-final after a photo finish. He then clearly won the battle for third place against Tim Mastnak from Slovenia. The 44-year-old was delighted with his first podium finish of the season. "I couldn't ski a better slalom than today. I'm proud of myself for winning the last run after the extremely bitter defeat in the photo finish in the semi-final," admitted the man from Salzburg after his 57th podium finish overall in the individual event. After four top 16 finishes, he is now flying to the next races with a lot of self-confidence.

The jubilation of the ÖSV team after four strong races in Asia is justified.

(Bild: Snowboard Austria )

Benjamin Karl, who lost out to Prommegger in the quarter-finals, finished fifth. Qualifying winner Arvid Auner finished in ninth place. After returning from China, the alpine boarders will continue next week with the two Italian classics in Carezza (Thursday) and Cortina (Saturday), where a parallel giant slalom will be held.