NEWS
Felix Gall is Austria's Athlete of the Year
Second NIKI for the cyclist! Second place at the Giro and third place at the Vuelta convinced the voters.
Felix Gall is Austria's Athlete of the Year 2026!
Austria's cycling star takes home the NIKI Award at the Lotterien Sporthilfe Gala for the second time, following his win in 2023.
Gall impressed with a second-place overall finish at the Giro d'Italia and third place at the Vuelta in Spain. In between, the East Tyrolean won his first multi-stage race, the Vuelta a Burgos.
Hämmerle and Lamparter Follow
Second place in the vote, conducted by members of Sports Media Austria, goes to Olympic snowboardcross champion Alessandro Hämmerle, who secured his second gold medal overall under the five rings in Italy.
Johannes Lamparter, who won three medals at the Olympics (2x silver, 1x bronze) and the overall World Cup in Nordic Combined, finished in third place.
With 1,321 points and 156 first-place votes, Gall clearly won the election. Hämmerle garnered 802 points and 52 first-place finishes. Johannes Lamparter recorded 501 points and twelve first-place votes.
Before Gall, three cyclists – Richard Menapace (1949), Adolf Christian (1957), and Georg Totschnig (2005) – had been named Austria's Athlete of the Year.
