Holzer and Lueftner new Austrian Championships

The Austrian SBX Championships were held as part of the season's first two Europa Cup races this week on Pitztal glacier which attracted quite a bunch of international teams who capitalised on the opportunity to train under competition conditions for the upcoming SBX World Cup in Val Thorens, France.

However, it wasn't the big names taking home the win in the first of back-to-back races as Julian Lueftner was able to defend his Austrian title triumphing ahead of Jake Vedder (USA) and Konstantin Schad (GER).

“I entered today's competition with the will to take home the victory. It's amazing that everything just worked out as planned”, Lueftner said after clinching his career's third national title.

“I really liked the start section which played in my hands. I was able to lock in the hole shot and defend the lead until the end”, he added.

In the women's event, Christine Holzer earned her second national title finishing 13th after coming back from a ten months injury break while Rosina Mancari (USA) came out successful in the EC opener ahead of teammate Faye Gulini and Gaia Tarasco (FRA).

The second day featured another Europa Cup race which once again saw the US team dominating the podium.

While routiniers Nick Baumgartner and Nate Holland secured one and two ahead of Schad, Gulini and Mancari changed ranks in the women's event with Tarasco rounding out the podium as third again.

All results can be viewed here.

The SBX Europa Cup will continue next year in Isola 2000, France where back-to-back races are scheduled for January 13 and 14, 2018, just right after the second stop of the SBX World Cup tour which stops in Val Thorens on January 12 and 13 for one race.