Alpine SB's elder stateswoman Riegler looking for more next season
Apr 01, 2020·Alpine Snowboard
The elder stateswoman of FIS Snowboarding, Claudia Riegler of Austria has announced her intention to continue competing in next season’s Alpine SB World Cup tour - a season in which she will be dropping in at 47 years old.
Despite the fact that Riegler is well over twice the age of the average podium winner throughout FIS Snowboard history (check the stats HERE), the Flachau native is still very much capable of representing her country at the top level.
In 2019/20 Riegler earned four podiums (two in individual competition, two in team events), and a total of seven top-10 finishes on her way to finishing sixth on the overall parallel rankings, where she was sandwiched between two 22-year-olds in Daniella Ulbing (AUT) and Milena Bykova (RUS).
In 2018/19 Riegler set a new FIS Snowboard record as the oldest-ever World Cup winner when she claimed victory on home soil at the Bad Gastein PSL competition, eclipsing the previous mark set by Canada’s Jasey Jay Anderson by more than three years.
Throughout her career, Riegler has 349 World Cup starts, with 28 podiums and six victories, as well as PGS gold from the Lachtal 2015 World Snowboard Championships.
Don’t be surprised to see Riegler earning more podiums next year and staying right in the thick of things through the 2021/22 season and the upcoming Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
