Austrian Snowboarder Becomes Oldest FIS World Champion At 42 Years of Age

Andreas Prommegger from Austria became the oldest individual FIS World Champion when he won the Parallel Slalom in Snowboarding at Bakuriani, Georgia, yesterday.

The 42-year-old won the final run against his teammate Arvid Auner, making it his third Gold medal at a World Championship after winning double Gold at the 1996 World Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain. This makes him the oldest World Champion in a FIS event — except grass skiing if we’re being strict. He also became the oldest World Cup winner in snowboarding in December 2021, when he won the World Cup at Bannoye, Russia.

Does he consider retiring? Not one bit. In an interview with his local newspaper, Prommegger said:

“I am now the oldest World Champion. Why should I not try to top that in 2025? I am in better shape than ever before and thanks to the police force financially secure. I have a great family supporting me, it would be stupid not to give it a go.”

Prommegger is, like 74 other Austrian top athletes, sponsored by the Austrian ministry for internal affairs, and as such employed as a police officer in the Austrian police force since July 2007.

After a disappointing Alpine World Championship for Austria with not a single gold medal for Austria, the Freestyle World Championships in Bakuriani have been off to a good start for the alpine nation, with Team Austria winning the full collection of medals: Gold and Silver for Austria’s men and Bronze in the Women for Sabine Schöffmann. The following day Prommegger and Schöffmann added to the Austrian medal haul with a Silver in the Mixed Parallel Team event.