VIENNA/BAD GOISERN. The Austrian natural track luge team was flown back to Austria from the Russian capital Moscow yesterday. Toboggan flea Tina Unterberger was also in the thick of it.
The athletes of the Austrian national team of natural track lugers have now landed at Vienna Airport with an AUA plane coming from Moscow. The sudden departure from the Russian capital became necessary after the World Cup finals there had been canceled due to the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine and the teams had been asked to leave the country as soon as possible.
“Of course it would have been a World Cup ball for me too. But in such a situation, sport is secondary. It is now important that our two trainers can also fly back as quickly as possible,” says tobogganist Tina Unterberger from Bad Goisern and continues: “We had just gotten ready for the toboggan run, but were promptly called to a meeting. There we were informed of the current situation and recommended that we leave the country as soon as possible. So we packed our things and waited for the organized transfer to the airport. It’s not that easy with so many pieces of luggage. Luckily we managed to get to Moscow Airport an hour before departure and then landed safely in Vienna via a detour via the far north.”
People wanted to leave as soon as possible
There was no excessive rush at Moscow Airport. But one noticed that people want to leave here.
However, national coach Gerald Kammerlader and coach Robert Batkowski are still stuck at Moscow Airport. There was no room for ten material boxes on the completely overbooked AUA flight. The duo therefore stayed on site for the time being. The ÖRV hopes that they will soon be able to take a flight home. This is scheduled for noon today. The return flights and transports were organized from Innsbruck.
The athletes, including world champion Thomas Kammerlander, are now on their way to Munich by bus, where their cars are parked after they left the Bavarian metropolis for Moscow on Monday.
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