Tina Fischl surprises with gold and silver ahead of Geerman SKIMO team squad athlete
This year´s vertical ski touring race in Leogang was pretty extreme. More than 120 mountain ethusiasts were registered for this event in which a total of 1,000 m of climbing had to be completed over a distance of just 4km. The conditions on this winter evening were once again very rough for the athletes. The thermometer showed -7°C at the start and an icy -13°C at the finish at the Asitz mountain station (1,752 m)
The well-known endurance specialist Tina Fischl also wanted to compete with the best SKIMO athletes this year. Fischl was highly motivated
For this night race, which started at 6 p.m. at the valley station of the Asitz cable cars, the athletes in their thin racing suits really had their work cut out for them in the run-up to the race in order to warm up optimally.
Everyone was happy when the starting gun was fired on time. The specialists in this sport set the place right form the start and sprinted straight up the start climb. Tina Fischl had great difficulty here in not completely losing touch with the fast girls. Up to the first steep slope, Tina had to set a really hard pace to catch up again.
At full speed, she entered the steep slope, where the experienced mountain sports athlete managed to overtake some of the women. There was no time to take a deep breath, not even after the steep slope, where it flattened out a little. Due to the darkness, Tina Fischl had absolutely no idea what position she was in at this point and how many women were in front or behind her.
The further up they went, the colder and windier it became.
After completing the somewhat flatter section above the middle station, Tina Fischl picked up the pace again and was then able to overtake another fast squad athlete from Austria on the steep slope near the top station. The last few meters of altitude were extremely rough, as the slope was icy, and the skis hardly had any grip.
Tina Fischl fought to the end and was then overjoyed at the finish as the winner of the master´s classification and the second fastest lady overall. The mountain specialist was very satisfied with her performance on the day as she had not expected such a great result.
The personal trainer from Fürstenstein was the fastest German athlete and only the 20 years younger Austrian, Linda Wilhelmstätter, finished a few seconds ahead of Fischl. Fischl was able to leave the German SKIMO team squad athlete far behind during the race.