Paralympics in Paris:

Four hot Styrians give hope for medals

Pepo Puch is a hot tip for a medal in para-dressage.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

After Paris is before Paris! While Austria's Olympic team has left the "City of Love", the next red-white-red team is getting ready for the start at the Paralympics (28.8. to 8. 9.) on the Seine and will say goodbye in Vienna on Sunday. 4400 athletes from 184 nations are expected, 549 events are planned in 23 sports. There are four Styrians in the 30-strong Austro team.

The big veteran is rider Pepo Puch, who will be competing in the para-dressage (level II) in the Palace Gardens of Versailles. The master chimney sweep from Oberzeiring, who lives in Hinteregg (Switzerland), was an event rider at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, but suffered incomplete paraplegia in a riding accident in 2008, is Paralympic champion in 2012 and 2016, five-time runner-up at the World Championships and seven-time European champion.

In Mannheim and Ornago, the 58-year-old cut a fine figure with Sailor's Blue in the last form tests, but he was much more pleased that daughter Lou was able to win her first ranking show jumping competition this year.

Thomas Frühwirth has been preparing for the Games at altitude in Val Thorens.

(Bild: Frühwirth privat)

"I want to get a place on the podium"
Hand cyclist Thomas "TiggerTom" Frühwirth from Edelsbach, who has had an incomplete spinal cord injury since a motorcycle accident in 2004, is a three-time Paralympic silver medalist (twice individual, once road) and three-time European time trial champion.

The 43-year-old has spent four weeks preparing for the Games, and after a block in Tignes he is currently at an altitude training camp in Val Thorens (his fourth altitude training camp in 12 months): "I want to get myself a podium place - and I really can't put in any more effort than that!" The course in Paris is a real Hollywood course: "Climbs, technical passages, cobblestones - whoever wins really deserves it!"

Cycling all-rounder Franz-Josef Lässer won the World Track Championships in Rio.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Cycling all-rounder Franz-Josef Lässer from Stattegg, who has four shortened fingers on his left hand from birth, is a hot contender for a podium in his Paralympics debut as third in the Paracycling World Cup (C5). In the individual time trial, in the road race and on the track. At the Track Cycling World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, the 23-year-old, who previously competed in normal mountain bike races for many years despite his handicap, won gold in the elimination demo competition, silver in the scratch and omnium, and bronze in the individual pursuit.

Natalija Eder has already won medals in London and Rio.

(Bild: GEPA )

Javelin thrower from Ennstal: "Anything is possible"
Javelin thrower Natalija Eder (class F13), whose eyesight changed drastically at the age of 15 after an unknown eye disease, competes for Union Salzburg but has lived in Gröbming in Ennstal for years. The 44-year-old native of Belarus, who will compete in the Stade de France, won bronze in 2012 (London) and 2016 (Rio). In Tokyo 2021, the mother of two was the oldest female athlete and finished fourth. This time, however, she has her sights set on the podium: "Anything is possible!"