South Tyrolean Olympians come in all shapes and sizes

South Tyrol's teenagers are weakening - or at least they have grown up. While there were four teenagers at the 2018 Games in South Korea, the South Tyroleans only have two athletes under the age of 4 at this edition. This means that Daniel Grassl (2) and Jessica Malsiner (20) will take on the role of the chicks in China. Malsiner beats her colleague Grassl by a few months for being the youngest South Tyrolean participant; she was born on September 19rd, 19, while Grassl was born on April 23th, 2002. It is the first time for both of them to take part in the Olympics.

For others, the teenage years are a long time ago. When Roland Filehner strapped on his snowboard for the first time at the Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002, Daniel Grassl and Jessica Malsiner were not even born yet. The 41-year-old veteran is already competing in his 6th Olympic Games. At 37 years old, Christof Innerhofer is now one of the more experienced athletes. Among the women, Silvia Bertagna from Val Gardena is the oldest at 35 years old. After Sochi in 2014, she is taking part in the Olympics for the second time with her freestyle skis.

The fact that there are big differences in kilograms in winter sports is determined by the different processes involved in the sports. Dominik Paris's 102 kilograms are crucial on a downhill slope in order to get the necessary speed. Fellow racing driver Christof Innerhofer still looks like a lightweight at 90 kilograms. The same principle applies to the bobsledders Patrick Baumgartner and Alex Verginer, who both weigh around 93 kilograms and know how to use this on the track. In such disciplines, the third and fourth plate of spaghetti is part of the training plan.

Such numbers on the scales would scare the hell out of athletes in other disciplines. When ski jumping or cross-country skiing, there should be as little weight as possible on your hips. The more weight, the harder you have to work. Federica Sanfilippo from Ridnaun has to carry just 53 kilograms around the trail as quickly as possible on her cross-country skis. Dorothea Wierer has to work 3 kilograms more. But Silvia Bertagna is an absolute featherweight, with only 50 kg whirling through the air, plus her equipment and skis, of course. Dorothea Wierer wins on social media Unsurprisingly, the social media queen is the superstar from the Pustertal, Dorothea Wierer. With almost a million followers on various platforms, the biathlete is at the top of the South Tyrolean Olympians. Among men, Dominik Paris is at the top with 300.000 followers. The Olympic Games in Beijing should be best followed on these two channels.

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Winter sports

Hockey

Tennis

Other sports

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

South Tyrolean Olympians come in all shapes and sizes

29 South Tyroleans are taking part in the Olympic Games in Beijing this year. A colorfully mixed group comes together in China - we took a closer look at them.

Suggestions

Comments (0)