World Championships preparation in the snow, on the school bench and at the university of applied sciences in full swing
When the medals are awarded in the Super G and the Cross-Country Sprint at the Virtus Ski World Championships in six weeks’ time, the Austrian squad will certainly have something to say about it. While the athletes were building up and testing their form during snow training and the Austria Cup last weekend, the students at the HTL Spengergasse in Vienna and the students at the FH Kufstein are working tirelessly on their World Championships projects. They all want to reap the successes in the different areas together in 40 days, when more than 100 spotlers from all over the world will be competing for world championship honours in Seefeld.
Six out of seven – the alpine World Championships squad managed to achieve the fastest time in each of the Giant Slalom and Slalom in six categories at the Austrian B Championships for people with mental disabilities as part of the Austria Cup on Katschberg in Carinthia. There was at least one podium place for the squad members from Carinthia, Upper Austria, Tyrol and Vorarlberg.
The Nordic athletes were in Obertilliach in East Tyrol for a training course with national coach and former Olympic participant Josef Hones; only Johannes Grander from Kitzbühel spent the weekend with World Championships mentor David Kreiner at the Nordic Triple in Seefeld to get to know the cross-country track even better.
In order to make the Virtus Ski World Championships an unforgettable sporting and festive event for the Austrian athletes as well as the participants from 15 nations, not only the local organising committee in Seefeld around the World Championships initiators René Schönberger and Paula Grameiser-Scherl with the organising Ski Club Seefeld and its chairwoman Jaqueline Stark are working at full speed in the background.
Together with the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein in Tyrol and the HTL Spengergasse in Vienna, students and pupils are working on the finer details of the supporting programme, the hospitality and the appearance on social networks. Under the experienced direction of master of ceremonies Carina Mauthner, the FH project groups are focusing on the opening ceremony, the hut evening and the daily medal presentations in the music pavilion, and the management of the official Instagram channel is also in the hands of the students.
To ensure that the delegations from four continents always know where the next road will lead them, the students of the 2nd grade of the HTL, who have already acquired virtual knowledge of the location, are taking care of this . The budding database programmers of the 3rd grade are currently developing a registration tool for all participants, which will automatically create a digital profile on the event website; they are also working on the technical implementation of a local live stream of all races.
“The cooperation with the FH Kufstein as well as the future engineers of the HTL are of inestimable value for the World Championships and their innovative and committed work will grant the participants and guests a unique celebration,” says ÖBSV-KGM chairman René Schönberger enthusiastically about the commitment of the young people, “not to speak of the socially valuable aspect and the lived idea of inclusion.
With the arrival of snow at the venue on Tyrol’s high plateau, all signs are finally proverbially green for the atmospheric opening of the first Virtus Ski World Championships on Austrian soil in 40 days’ time on 12 March.
Official channels
www.virtus2023seefeld.com
IG: @virtus.seefeld2023 @mentalpin_kgm
FB: obsv.a
