Dorothea Wierer and Andreas Seppi win the “Athlete Choice”

The athletes of the year have been chosen: Dorothea Wierer and Andreas Seppi are following in the footsteps of Carolina Kostner and Christof Innerhofer. The 25-year-old biathlete from Niederrasen and the tennis professional from Kaltern, who is six years older than her, prevailed with 34.837 and 18.677 votes respectively. A total of 43 athletes (16 women and 27 men) were available to readers over the past few weeks.

Wierer has conquered the hearts of South Tyrolean sports fans with an incredible increase in performance in the Biathlon World Cup. Within a few months she shot into the absolute top of the world and established herself as a constant contender for the podium. So it's no coincidence that she was on the podium four times in the past World Cup season and ultimately took seventh place in the overall ranking. Her big highlight was the World Championships in Kontiolahti: together with the Italian relay team she won the bronze medal! In the individual competition, she narrowly missed the podium in fourth place.

In the athlete election, Wierer won against Petra Zublasing. This took second place with 22.422 votes. While Wierer was already on the podium in second place last year, the sports shooter from Eppan made it into the top 3 for the first time. She was crowned world champion in air rifle shooting in 2014 and also recorded two World Cup victories. She was named World Sports Shooter of the Year by the international federation. Another biathlete, Karin Oberhofer, is in third place. The woman from Feldthurn, who has developed similarly to Wierer, became the first “Azzurra” to win an individual World Cup medal in Kontiolahti. This was her second bronze medal after her success with the relay.

Andreas Seppi breaks the spell

For the first time in his long career, Andreas Seppi was named “Sportsman of the Year” on Friday evening. His victory at the Australian Open in January against Roger Federer belongs in the history books of South Tyrolean sport. In 2014, the Überetscher led Italy to the Davis Cup semi-finals for the first time in 16 years and was in the quarter-finals of six ATP tournaments. At the beginning of the year, the current world number 38 made it to a final for the first time since 2012.

Seppi asserted himself in the election against ski star Dominik Paris, who clearly left his mark on the 2014/15 World Cup season. In Kitzbühel in particular, he was particularly impressive with his victory in the Super-G and second place in the downhill. The podium is completed by an “old acquaintance” among South Tyrol’s athletes, namely snowboarder Roland Filehner, who has added a world championship title in parallel slalom to his incredible trophy collection.

The Ossi Pircher Youth Prize went to the sprinter Julia Calliari from Terlan and the Algund footballer Max Reinthaler.

Athletes and fans in a celebratory mood

Dorothea Wierer and Andreas Seppi became the big stars of the long Meran ball night, which was attended by two exceptional Austrians in addition to the numerous South Tyrolean athletes: Benni Raich and Hannes Reichelt. The ski greats mingled with the around 1.200 celebrating ball guests.

Evaluation of the 2014 athlete election:

Women 1. Dorothea Wierer (biathlon) 34.837 2. Petra Zublasing (shooting sports) 22.422 3. Karin Oberhofer (biathlon) 11.961 4. Raphaela Folie (volleyball) 9469 5. Tania Cagnotto (diving) 8975 6. Claudia Schuler (disabled sports) 3514 7. Nadya Ochner (snowboard) 3264 8. Evelin Lanthaler (natural track tobogganing) 2939 9. Karin Knapp (tennis) 2600 10. Maria Romen (curling) 2538 11. Lisa Rabensteiner (mountain bike) 2190 12. Eva Lechner (mountain bike) 1179 13. Debora Pixner (ski cross) 863 14. Angelika Rainer (ice climbing) 685 15. Anna Stefani (athletics) 657 16. Silvia Bertagna (Freestyle) 457

Men 1. Andreas Seppi (tennis) 18.677 2. Dominik Paris (alpine skiing) 15.837 3. Roland Filehner (snowboard) 6349 4. Patrick Pigneter (natural track tobogganing) 4807 5. Dietmar Nöckler (cross-country skiing) 1896 6. Omar Visintin (snowboard) 1867 7. Dominik Filehner (artistic track tobogganing) 1789 8. Roland Clara (cross-country skiing) 1661 9. Simone Giannelli (volleyball) 1314 10. Gerhard Kerschbaumer (mountain bike) 1101 11. Patrick Thaler (alpine skiing) 1029 12. Christof Innerhofer (alpine skiing) 989 13. Christian Lanthaler (disabled sports) 986 14. Werner Heel (alpine skiing) 829 15. Manuel Filehner (football) 560 16. Christoph Mick (snowboard) 543 17. Florian Eisath (alpine skiing) 455 18. Rieder/Rastner (artistic track tobogganing) 420 19. Peter Fill (alpine skiing) 415 20. Kevin Filehner (luge track) 355 21. Oberstolz/Gruber (tobogganing) 352 22. Manuel Quinziato (cycling) 344 23. Armin Bauer (Nordic Combined) 297 24. Manfred Mölgg (alpine skiing) 288 25. Aaron March (snowboarding) 196 26. Manuel Scavone (football) 157 27. Tomas Ress (Basketball) 116

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Dorothea Wierer and Andreas Seppi win the “Athlete Choice”

As part of the traditional Ball des Sports, the South Tyrolean Athletes of the Year were awarded for the 28th time on Friday evening in the Merano Kurhaus. The “Dolomiten” readers chose biathlete Dorothea Wierer and tennis player Andreas Seppi.

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