Selina Trafoier and Nora Pernstich impressed at the Gran Premio Italia.

The “hot” phase has long since begun for the Alpine skiers

South Tyrol's young ski racers can look back on an extremely intense weekend, some of whom competed several times between the Marlene Cup, the Raiffeisen Grand Prix and the Autoindustriale Cup. The possible stars of tomorrow also caused a sensation at the national level.

19. February 2024

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Last week, Selina Trafoier (Ulten) and Nora Pernstich (TZ Überetsch-Unterland) achieved a respectable success at the Gran Premio Italia in Val Palot. In the first of two slaloms, Trafoier came second in the Aspiranti (U18) age group, while a day later Pernstich narrowly missed out on victory in second place.

Marlene Cup: Granruaz and Lamp with the best time of the day

A FIS Super-G was held in Watles on Saturday, which will also count towards the Marlene Cup 2023/24. On the 1478 meter long slope with a 350 meter difference in altitude, Rita Granruaz (Alta Badia) achieved the fastest time for women in 58,02 seconds and won the U18 age group. Julia Franzoni (Gröden) took second place, 0,74 seconds behind, while Nadine Trocker (Seiser Alm/+1,01) took third place. Lisa Perathoner (Gröden) won the U21 age group with a time of 59,48 seconds and was 0,01 seconds faster than her teammate Leila Perathoner. Here Greta Morandell (TZ Überetsch-Unterland) completed the podium. A total of 42 young racers took part.

For the young men (116 starters), Emanuel Lamp (Gsies) achieved the best time of the day in 54,22 seconds and won the U21 age group. Second in the Marlene Cup ranking was Francesco Zucchini (Prad/54,52), third was Hannes Schranzhofer (Gsies/54,66). Alex Silbernagl (Seiser Alm) won the U18 category in 55,32 seconds. Behind them were Jonas Feichter (Gsies/55,73) and Alois Köllemann Baldini (Vinschger Oberland/55,90).

The Autoindustriale Cup sets up its tents on Jochgrimm

On Saturday, qualification for the national phase of “Pinocchio sugli sci” took place at the foot of the Schwarzhorn and Weißhorn as part of the Autoindustriale Cup. In the U14 (Ragazzi) age group, Francesca Miribung (Alta Badia) was fastest among young women with a time of 55,79 seconds. Isabel Wisthaler (Taisten/55,92) and Nika Kerschbaumer (Seiser Alm/55,97) took second and third place. Miribung's teammate Hannes Valentini won among the boys of the same age (55,19). Julian Martinelli from Ski Team Latemar came second (56,48), while Samuel Gruber (Seiser Alm/56,49) finished third.

In the under-16 category there was no way around Victoria Klotz (Ritten), who confidently won in 54,41 seconds ahead of Arianna Putzer (Gröden/55,68) and Elisa Plunger (Seiser Alm/55,78). However, the winner of the young men of the same age comes from Val Gardena: Matthias Mahlknecht won in 54,60 seconds ahead of Dylan Pirini (Seiser Alm/54,80) and Leon Schöpf (Vinschger Oberland/54,83). A total of almost 180 young racers took part.

24 hours later it was the turn of the ski kids to determine the best in a “Gigante Veloce”, i.e. a faster giant slalom. Over 300 children took part in the racing.

The category winners at a glance:

U9: Anna Winkler (St. Vigil/1.01,77) and Simon Palfrader (St. Vigil/58,89)

U10: Franziska Hintner (Gsies/58,71) and Luca Thaler (Sarntal/56,87)

U11: Josefin Weisenhorn (Vinschger Oberland/58,15) and Aron Lanpacher (Tscherms/53,21)

U12: Mia Molling (TZ Jochtal/52,60) and Robin Kelder (Gröden/53,61)

Raiffeisen Grand Prix: The last races at district level

The Raiffeisen Grand Prix at district level ended with a slalom on Sunday. The West district was in action in Ulten, where Victoria Klotz (Ritten/1.11,35) was the winner after two rounds. Laura Wenter Heiss (Sarntal/1.13,32) and Theresa Unterweger (Riffian-Kuens/1.14,54) took honorary positions behind them. In the boys' category, Dennis Verdorfer from the organizing ASV Tscherms (1.10,03) won ahead of Philipp Fiwickeler (Sarntal/1.10,33) and Leon Schöpf (Vinschger Oberland/1.13,73). There was a Sarner double victory in the U14 female category by Klara Wenter (1.17,17) and Letizia Wenter Heiss (1.18,59), while Sarah Paris (St. Pankraz/1.20,55) took third place. Dominik Loguercio (Tscherms/1.14,06), Julian Plieger (Sarntal/1.14,28) and Juri Gufler (Passeier/1.14,73) landed in positions one to three among the U14 boys.

The Zentrum district was in action in Carezza, namely on the König-Laurin-Piste 3. Elisa Plunger (Seiser Alm/1.37,60) won the U16 female category ahead of Nicole Piccolruaz from Val Gardena (1.38,98) and Paula Baier (Wipptal /1.40,97). Matthias Mahlknecht (Gröden/1.32,78) came out on top among the young men of the same age. Jordan Stuefer (Seiser Alm/1.33,69) and Luisi Plancker (Gröden/1.34,31) finished second and third on the podium. In the U14 female category, Hannah Mahlknecht (Seiser Alm) was 1.39,75 seconds ahead of Magdalena Stofner (Welschnofen) in 0,11:1.39,97, while Nika Kerschbaumer (Seiser Alm/1.34,43:1.36,17) took third place. Mahlknecht's teammates Simon Kaser (1.36,53) and Felix Profanter (XNUMX) came first and second among the boys, while Pascal Kostner (XNUMX) from Val Gardena was able to celebrate third place.

The East district drove on the Gardenaccia piste in Badia. Local hero Lena Sottara (1.28,70) won the under-16s by a narrow margin ahead of Alenah Taschler (Gsies/1.28,73), while Isabel Leitgeb (Taufers/1.29,44) came third. Among the boys of the same age, there was a double victory for the Alta Badia ski team with Giacomo Ploner (1.27,91:1.32,02) and Manuel Zona (1.36,56:1.28,36), while Jonas Pipperger (Ahrntal/14:1.32,78) landed in third place. Amy Happacher (Drei Zinnen/1.34,51) took the day's victory in the U1.32,29 female category, ahead of Heidi Wenger (Ahrntal/1.32,57) and Benedetta Sardi (Alta Badia/1.33,18). The boys' race in this category was won by Felix Tscholl (Jochtal/XNUMX) ahead of Julian Clement (XNUMX) and Samuel Miribung (XNUMX/both Alta Badia).