Strong Austrians at the 2*FWQ in Kappl
The start of this year's Open Faces Contest series in Kappl was a success, with beautiful weather and good conditions at the Quellspitze. A total of 73 riders from 12 nations ventured onto the World Tour-tested face. Head judge and former Freeride World Tour rider Liz Kristoferitsch knows what it takes to take home the win in the face of such strong competition: "We generally look at the line the riders take and what they make of the terrain. You should simply see that they are having fun with the whole thing."
Three local heroes, among others, put this into practice best: Stefanie Noppinger, a former Austrian freeride champion, was at the top of the podium in the women's skiing category. She beat Valeria Apostolo from Italy, who came second, and Elena Mitrengova from Bulgaria in third place - even though she was competing in Kappl for the first time: "It's a great feeling to achieve such a great result right at the start of the season. After seeing Valeria's run, I didn't think that first place would be possible," said the happy winner. In the women's snowboarding category, Austria's Christine Innerhofer secured first place ahead of Bojana Chalakova from Bulgaria and Barbora Stevulova from Slovakia with an impressive run after finishing second last year.
There was an Austrian double victory in the men's snowboarding category: Matthias Zauner secured victory ahead of his compatriot Simon Holzknecht after a two-year absence from the contest. Third place went to Belgium's Lars Peirtsegaele.
In the men's skiing category, Germany's Tobias Wohlmannstetter stood at the top of the podium: "I didn't expect to win here today, especially as I've only skied the face once before. I just took it easy and rode without any pressure, maybe that was my secret," he explained. The two Austrians Martin Krautschneider and last year's winner Tao Kreibich took second and third place respectively.