Photo Report Schöckl Downhill Austrian Championship 2024

On a 1.3-kilometer short section of the notorious Gedscho track with a 300-meter drop, competitors were invited for the title fight. For those unfamiliar: it is so steep there that the quite experienced event photographer reported the worst muscle soreness of his life the day after. It is also notably terraced there, and slippery due to the loose soil on top of that.
No terrain where one can be sure of their case. No terrain where something can't happen at any time. Not for nothing did even the international elite once call the course one of the toughest in the world when it was about European championship honors there in 2003.

The locals sometimes saw it differently. "A full blast! The track was great, it was really fun, and the weather also played along," Kerstin Sallegger revealed herself as a fan of such "good, old downhill tracks" after her finish. The Graz native, who had been second and third in previous years, of course, had an easy laugh, as she gave her interview as the winner of the women's race and thus newly crowned downhill national champion.
Behind this year's first-time World Cup starter, Omnibiotic racer, in the absence of the great Valentina Höll, Helene Frühwirt from Lower Austria and Marlena Neissl from the organizing Bikeclub Stattegg completed the podium.

Andreas Kolb was hardly less enthusiastic: "Hopefully we'll race here again soon," laughed the man with the mustache, relieved when it was finally done.
The 28-year-old was literally whipped over the course by an unleashed crowd and had indeed managed to "keep the pace and not always be on the brakes," according to the criterion expressed beforehand.
With almost a five-second lead, the native of Schladming with his chosen home Graz, who had also already won the qualifiers, finally reached the finish line ahead of his first pursuer, Kilian Schnöller from Tyrol. Immediately behind him, serial winner David Trummer from Gnas, still with a painful shoulder and great fighting spirit, managed to secure bronze, thus ensuring a Styrian dominance on the podium among the elite men.