A great success for the extreme sportswoman from Fürstenstein
Since 2020, the International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) has held the ISMF Masters World Championships in Werfenweng, Austria, every year. A total of over 400 athletes from 14 nations were registered this year.
The endurance athlete Tina Fischl from WSV Otterskirchen was competing in this world championship for the first time. The personal trainer from Fürstenstein has been competing in running events at all distances for many years with great success. For some time now, she has been using touring skis as a training tool in winter to get mountain training in the snow for the summer season. Fischl already attracted attention in 2022/2023 with her victories at the German Championships (Masters) in vertical ski mountaineering and at the vertical race as part of the Mountain Attack in Saalbach.
With perfect weather, sunshine and temperatures around -4°C, the vertical race started punctually at 1 pm by the organizers at the valley station of the Ikarus cable cars. Almost 200 starters were registered for this first competition of the ISMF Master World Championship was also held here for the categories Senior Master and U20.
Tina Fischl had a good starting position, her competitors however, started the race so fast that she lost contact with the leaders after just a few meters. Fischl has had this problem in previous races before, so she knew how to deal with this situation. After all, such races are not decided at the start. Fischl quickly fought her way back up the first steeper ski slope, overtaking many of the probably a little over-motivated women. This section ws followed by a long, flatter segment that could be mastered using the classic cross-country skiing technique.
Fischl managed to make up some places in this section as well. She was able to overtake several young athletes from Japan, Austria and Germany. This gave the experienced mountain specialist further courage but of course it also added to the pressure because she didn’t want to be caught from behind. It was not clear to Tina at which position she was at this point (around the middle station), she simply gave it her all and hoped to reach the summit as one of the first of the women’s field.
She also didn’t give in the last steep slope up to Bischling which is 1,835 meters above sea level. Here, the many spectators along the route were treated to high-class ski mountaineering.
The finish in bright sunshine at the summit of Bischling was very special for Tina Fischl. With her outstanding time of only 49 min. 29 sec. for the ascent of 870 meters and 4.7 km, Fischl earned overjoyed the victory in the Masters category W45 and thus also won the world champion title. The second-placed woman in this class, Senn Martina from Austria, came in well behind her after 55 min. 45 sec.
Read the PNP article here:
Further information and results can be found at: https://www.erztrophy.com/ or https://www.ismf-ski.org/webpages/ and www.skimo.at
Photo documentation: © Alex Fischl