Ski Alpin: Who is the Val Gardena winner Josef Ferstl?

The 28-year-old Josef Ferstl won his first World Cup victory of his career at the Super-G in Val Gardena. Who is the sensational winner whose father will be known to some fans of the 1970s?

On the 15th. In December 2017 Josef Ferstl was on the podium for the first time in a World Cup race – and then right at the top.

Prior to that, he was able to celebrate five places in the top ten. At the World Championships in Beaver Creek in 2015, he failed to reach the top 20 in both downhill, super-G and alpine combination.

This year he was able to participate in St. Gustav’s. Moritz in the downhill to 18th place. He is also the reigning German champion in Super-G.

But who is this Josef Ferstl anyway? Ferstl is on 29. He was born in Traunstein in December 1988 and is the son of the successful ski racer Sepp Ferstl.

The junior’s career began in the winter of 2003/04, when he completed his first FIS races and participated in national championships.

Before he drove his first two European Cup races in 2005, he finished fifth in slalom and eighth in super-G at the European Youth Olympic Festival.

In 2007 he competed for the first time in the World Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. However, he had to be content with the last and penultimate place in the two downhill runs.

After that, he was not used for four years at all before he was released on 18 January. January 2013 with a 30th birthday. In the first place in the super combination of Wengen he could collect his first World Cup points.

The 23rd. In February 2013 he finished in the Kandahar downhill from Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the top ten for the first time. His best result so far is fifth place in the descent of Santa Caterina Valfurva.

In March 2010 he secured second place in the German Championships behind Stephan Keppler in the Super Combination. In the Super-G, Ferstl is the reigning German champion.

Josef follows in the footsteps of his father Sepp Ferstl, who was an active skier between 1974 and 1981. At the 1978 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the senior was runner-up in the combination and fourth in the downhill.

In the same year he also won the Hahnenkamm downhill run on the Streif in Kitzbühl and again his success the following year. So far, only one more German has succeeded: Ludwid Leitner.