The results are in:

World Championship and Runner-Up Titles for Fire Departments from Upper Austria

The team from Bad Mühllacken on their way to victory(Bild: OÖ LFV/Natalia Pesendorfer)

Upper Austria is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to firefighting! The Florianis proved this at the World Championship in Eisenstadt. Although the title went to a different team, a squad from the Mühlviertel region claimed victory. And the successful women’s team, which narrowly missed out on the win, also hails from the Mühlviertel.

What a debut! In their first appearance at a World Firefighting Championship, the team from Bad Mühllacken (municipality of Feldkirchen/D.) claimed victory right away in Eisenstadt, leaving 55 other teams from 17 nations in their wake. The “Mühllackingers” took the world championship title from their colleagues from St. Martin/Mühlkreis. Twenty penalty points during the firefighting drill cost the “Martins” their chance at a top spot, and they had to settle for 25th place. Unfortunately, the world record set by the St. Martin team in 2017 was also broken —the fourth-place finishers from Johannesberg, Lower Austria, clocked a fabulous time of 28.07 seconds, 0.09 seconds faster, but squandered their chances at a podium finish during the relay race. By the way: The team from St. Martin would have secured the victory and defended their title based solely on their running times—but penalty points dashed their dreams.

The women from Julbach—a fantastic performance that earned them the runner-up title(Bild: OÖ LFV/Natalia Pesendorfer)

It was all about speed and precision(Bild: OÖ LFV/Natalia Pesendorfer)

The “Mühllackinger” celebrated their world championship title(Bild: OÖ LFV/Natalia Pesendorfer)

The hurdle race also calls for courage(Bild: OÖ LFV/Natalia Pesendorfer)

Every grip was perfect—they trained long and hard for that(Bild: OÖ LFV/Natalia Pesendorfer)

The women remained flawless
The women of FF Julbach, on the other hand, had a flawless run but were narrowly defeated by a slightly quicker team from Croatia by a margin of just 0.65 points. The women from the Mühlviertel region were already considered medal contenders going into the competition and are delighted with their runner-up title.

Celebrations at home in the works
“This result confirms what we in Upper Austria already know: We have the best firefighters,” says Provincial Councilor Michaela Langer-Weninger, and Governor Thomas Stelzer also offers his congratulations: “Our Upper Austrian firefighting teams have once again impressively demonstrated at the World Firefighting Championship that they rank among the best in the world.” Today, Sunday, the teams will be welcomed back in their hometowns following the official award ceremony in Eisenstadt.