The “Lotterien Sporthilfe-Gala” took place today in the Marx-Halle in Vienna. The gala is the annual highlight in the Austrian sports calendar. At this event, Austria’s top athletes are honored for outstanding achievements in the past sporting year.
In the Sportswoman of the Year category, three female army athletes were among the top five:
- Ivona Dadic, the world indoor silver medalist and fourth in the heptathlon at the World Championships.
- Speed skater Corporal Vanessa Herzog is one of the big winners at the 2018 European Championships with gold in the 500m, silver in the 1000m and bronze in the mass start. She is also the reigning world champion in inline speed skating.
- The trio was completed by Jessica Pilz, climbing world champion in lead climbing and bronze medalist in the combination.
The prize went to snowboarder Anna Gasser.
Army athletes were also included in the categories Team, Sportsman & Sportswoman with a Disability, Rising Star of the Year and Sportsman with Heart. The two platoon leaders Peter Penz and Georg Fischler were in the final for Team of the Year. The luge duo luged to silver and bronze at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. Claudia Lösch was voted “Sportswoman of the Year with a Disability” for the seventh time. The former army athlete has thus drawn level with the athlete of the century Annemarie Moser-Pröll. Paraathlete Günther Matzinger was among the top three athletes in Austria in the category “Disabled Athlete of the Year”. One of the rising stars of the year was canoeist Viktoria Wolffhardt. At the European Championships in Prague, she was crowned European champion in the canoe and also won the silver medal in the kayak team competition. In this category, the luger David Gleischer, a former army athlete, was awarded the “Hero” prize. Andreas Onea, an army athlete, is also a finalist in the “Athlete with Heart” category. Onea is an ambassador for “Light for the World”, an organization that saves people’s eyesight.
