Huber and Karl named Lower Austria’s athletes of the year
Monday 19th October 2026 on 21:45 in
Austria
Skier Katharina Huber and snowboarder Benjamin Karl were named Lower Austria’s athletes of the year at the 2026 Sportlounge awards on Monday, ORF reported. Handball team Bad Vöslau, para-skier Veronika Aigner and table tennis player Nina Skerbinz also received awards.
The ceremony took place at Campus Hall in Krems, recognising athletes and teams for their performances at national and international level.
Huber, 31, won the women’s award after taking Olympic gold in the team combined event with Ariane Rädler. The skier from St. Georgen am Reith received the honour for the first time, ahead of marathon runner Julia Mayer and bobsledder Katrin Beierl.
Karl, from Wilhelmsburg, won the men’s award for the fourth time. He retained his Olympic title in the parallel giant slalom, having also won gold at the 2022 Games in Beijing. Snowboard cross racer Jakob Dusek and tennis player Lucas Miedler finished behind him.
Bad Vöslau won team of the year after claiming its first Handball Liga Austria title. The team completed the final series without a defeat and recorded 14 consecutive wins. Women’s handball champions Hypo Niederösterreich and women’s basketball team Duchess Klosterneuburg placed second and third.
Aigner was named para-athlete of the year for the third consecutive time after winning four gold medals and one silver at the Paralympics. The skier from Gloggnitz finished ahead of para-swimmer Andreas Ernhofer and her brother, Johannes Aigner.
Skerbinz, 16, was named young athlete of the year. The table tennis player from Markgrafneusiedl won her first national championship title in the senior category this year.
The public-vote award for sports hero of the year went to Werner Gratzer of football club SV Sooß. He volunteers as coach of the club’s under-12 team.