A Sommer is almost always on the podium

2023-08-02 23:04:00

In Austria’s mountain bike scene, Sabine Sommer has been one of the best for years. In the meantime, the woman from the Mühlviertel region is increasingly being chased by her daughters Clara and Nicole. Nicole (17) is contesting her first junior season this year and immediately qualified for the European Championships in Portugal. There she finished 14th in the short-track race and 28th in cross-country among the best juniors in Europe.

Three victories in the Salzkammergut

At the Salzkammergut Trophy that followed, Austria’s largest MTB event, Nicole was able to win the junior category on the F route (37 kilometers) and was even second overall over this distance. Her sister Clara, three years her senior, won the D route (59 kilometers), and Mama Sabine was also successful in the trophy: she was the fastest woman to complete the 80 kilometer C route in 3:55 hours.

Last weekend, the mountain bike state championships in the long marathon discipline took place in Montafon/Vorarlberg. In an extremely tight race over 65 km and 2400 meters in altitude, Sabine Sommer drove to her tenth medal at state championships. After three and a half hours of driving, she was only 45 seconds behind the winner. Another 29 seconds behind her daughter Clara took third place. This year, all three summer women fought for championship medals for the PopaFlo ARBÖ Freistadt: Nicole had already won bronze at the Junior Women’s ÖM in mid-July.