East Tyrolean water rescue cleans up at state championship
Three championship titles and several podiums. Especially the young swimmers showed up.
On Sunday, March 13th, the Tyrolean Lifesaving Championships were on the program in Innsbruck. The Osttirol deployment site sent 16 participants into the race. The team showed strong performances and won several championship titles and podiums. The younger participants in particular, some of whom are gaining their first experience at national championships, were in a class of their own in the water.
In youth class 1, Lorenz Kurzthaler took the runner-up title. The youth classes were dominated by Sophia Pichler and Jakob Pedevilla, both swimmers impressively secured the championship title. Lia Bonecker with the runner-up title and Finn Drexel with third place rounded off the strong result of the East Tyrolean team. Lena Kurzthaler and David Köferle just missed the podium.
![](https://assets.dolomitenstadt.at/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2-wasserrettung-osttirol-landesmeisterschaft-innsbruck-2022-c-oewr-osttirol.jpg)
The adults also had reason to be happy: in the men’s class, Ilija Drexel surprisingly brought the state championship title to East Tyrol. In the women’s category, Marit Franz was only beaten by two swimmers from North Tyrol. In the relay competitions, the team from East Tyrol was also unbeatable in the youth class and in a mixed class, and the youth team ranking also went to the ÖWR Osttirol.
A quartet from the Osttiroler Wasserrettung took on the “Speedlifesaving” challenge in Innsbruck the day before. The lifeguards had to complete eleven individual and relay competitions in just under six hours. Nick Lexer, Jakob Pedevilla as well as Ilija and Arik Drexel did well in all competitions.