World Ski Championships 2025

“Sunny” is Salzburg’s animal oracle of the World Championships

Donkey "Sunny" was born at Gut Aiderbichl, the "Krone" readers chose her name(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Great weather, but still no medal for Austria at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach! But there is a silver lining on the horizon - Salzburg's animal World Championships oracle! Donkey girl "Sunny" lives at Gut Aiderbichl and predicts the results of the ski races ... 

All ski fans are looking forward to Saalbach-Hinterglemm! Will the Austrian team win its first medal in the second competition? Can the ÖSV ladies even celebrate gold in the super-G? There will be an answer to this question today, Thursday, from 11.30 am. However, one has already been decided - Austria will take the gold medal! Who is so sure? Donkey girl "Sunny" from the Gut Aiderbichl animal sanctuary in Henndorf.

"Sunny" is Salzburg's animal oracle of the World Cup. She assesses the chances of the red-white-red ski aces. The Aiderbichl keepers prepare two feeding boxes for the donkey lady. Gold, silver and bronze medals are marked on both troughs - but crossed out on one. The oracle is allowed to walk out of her stable through a "starting house" and choose one of the boxes. "That's how 'Sunny' decides whether Austria wins a medal or not," laughs Aiderbichl boss Dieter Ehrengruber.

For the women's super-G, "Sunny" meant well for the red-white-red ski aces on Wednesday afternoon. "So now almost nothing can go wrong. The oracle has spoken," said Ehrengruber with a grin.

He should know: The Aiderbichl Managing Director had already pulled an animal oracle out of his hat for the European Football Championship last summer. Back then, "Sammy" the bull predicted the outcome of a number of soccer matches. With success: for example, he predicted the victory of the German team against Scotland.