Alpine skiing: Streif winner Dreßen is “Sportsman of the Month”.

Ski racer Thomas Dreßen has been voted “Sportsman of the Month January” by Germany’s top athletes.

This was announced by the Stiftung Deutsche Sporthilfe on Tuesday. The 24-year-old, surprise winner of the downhill run on the Streif, won with 57.5 percent of the votes clearly ahead of ski jumper Andreas Wellinger (22.7) and the overall World Cup winner in skeleton, Jaqueline Lölling (19.8).

In January, Dreßen sensationally and as the second German after Sepp Ferstl (1978) had won the World Cup downhill run on the infamous Streif in Austria’s ski mecca Kitzbühel.

The success catapulted the Garmisch-Partenkirchener at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang (9. till 25. February) to the circle of favourites.