Baden-Baden (pps) In the elections for Germany’s “Athlete of the Year”, the two-time Olympic champion Sylke Otto has reached a very good third place. In the elections held among German sports journalists, the four-time World Champion was only surpassed by biathlon athlete Kati Wilhelm, who won one gold and two silver medals in Turin, and the four-time European Champion in swimming, Britta Steffen. Only Georg Hackl, who was elected as “Athlete of the Year” in 1998 after his third Olympic gold medal, has ever achieved a better result in Germany than Sylke Otto.

In 2006, the brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger from Austria also reached an outstanding third place in Austria’s election of the team of the year. Armin Zöggeler was elected South Tyrol’s „Athlete of the Year “ and finished second in the elections of Italy’s “Winter Sport Athlete of the Year”.