First World Cup victory: Tabanelli's finest hour

This event had been looming for a long time, but now it is reality: 17-year-old Flora Tabanelli won her first World Cup victory on Friday at the Big Air event in Kreischberg.

10 January 2025

From: do

Flora Tabanelli took the freestyle world by storm in her first World Cup season last winter. The 17-year-old Italian has taken part in ten World Cup competitions so far and has been on the podium five times - all she was missing was her first win. But on Friday evening in Kreischberg, Styria, the time had come: Tabanelli was crowned winner in the Big Air and climbed to the top step of the podium for the first time.

The talented Azzurra laid the foundation for her first World Cup triumph with her first jump, with which she achieved 93,25 points and the best performance of the day. A weaker second jump left her behind the Austrian Lara Wolf before the decisive final attempt. But Tabanelli showed strong nerves, showed an outstanding last jump and secured the victory in Austria (175,50 points).

Second place went to the Finnish Anni Karava (173,50), who pushed Wolf (173,25) into third place with an equally impressive third jump. For the Austrian, this podium finish was nevertheless an unexpected success, as she only celebrated her comeback on Friday after a long injury break. Her last World Cup competition was almost two years ago, in March 2023. Third place was also only her second podium success in her career.

Miro also in the final

In the men's competition, a member of the Tabanelli family was also in the spotlight: Flora's brother Miro achieved a strong sixth place in the final with 152,25 points. The competition in Kreischberg was won by New Zealander Luca Harrington with 187,75 points, followed by local hero Matej Svancer (178,75). Third place went to Norwegian Leo Landrø (178,50). For South Tyrolean Rene Monteleone from Ortisei, however, the competition ended in the qualification.

Schlagwörter: Winter sports Freestyle Big air Flora Tabanelli