The Austrian Judo Association traditionally presents its coveted JUDO AUSTRIA AWARDS as part of the Bundesliga Final 4 in the Raiffeisen Sportpark Gmunden, which is filled to capacity. The crowning conclusion is the two categories of athlete and coach of the year in front of an impressive backdrop of more than 2,000 spectators. Fortunately, both categories went to the actors from JC Wimpassing Sparkasse.
Female athlete of the year: MICHAELA POLLERES
Michi POLLERES is rightly Austria’s female judoka of the year. Anything else would have been a surprise. There has been no getting around the world number two from Lower Austria for a long time. 2024 was – alongside 2021 (Olympic silver in Tokyo, World Cup bronze in Budapest) – her most successful year to date. After two Grand Slam victories in Antalya (TUR) and Dushanbe (TJK) and bronze at the home Grand Prix in Linz, she was third on the Olympic podium for the second time at the Olympic Games in Paris. This makes her the most successful female judoka in ÖJV history to date.
So far she has been fighting
- 3 Olympic medals: 1x silver AK, 1x bronze AK, 1x bronze YOG U19
- 3 World Cup medals: 2x Bronze AK, 1x Bronze U21
- 6 European Championship medals: 1x gold U23, 3x silver U23+U21+U18, 2x bronze AK+U21
- 2 Masters Medaillen: 1x Gold, 1x Bronze
- 7 Grand-Slam-Medaillen: 3x Gold, 4 x Bronze
- 6 Grand Prix medals: 2x gold, 4x bronze
- 4 World Cup medals: 3x gold, 1x bronze
The good news: There is no end in sight to this successful streak.
The trainer election is also traditionally one of the most prestigious categories.
Coach of the year: ADI ZELTNER
The ÖJV judo coach of the year is Adi Zeltner. Anyone who speaks internationally about the JC Wimpassing Sparkasse cannot ignore the sporting director of the JCW, LV NÖ state coach and ÖJV base coach in one person. The success of his protégés continued into the 2024 Olympic season.
With Michaela POLLERES and Aaron FARA, two of the successful coach’s protégés took part in the Olympic Games. Luki Reiter, as the third Wimpassinger, missed the possible Olympic qualification for the new team competition by just a hair’s breadth. As is well known, Michi won bronze and thus her second Olympic medal. With Lisa GRABNER, another athlete from the talent factory in Wimpassing caused a sensation in 2024. With BRONZE at the Military World Championships and silver at the World Cup in Madrid, she once again made extremely positive headlines.
Coach Adi Zeltner, who has been tirelessly producing successful judoka as JCW head coach for 35 years, is primarily responsible for these recent successes and many successes before them. The independent masseur coordinates base training, LV training, HSZ training and video studies before competitions and thus ensures the best conditions for his athletes.
His previous track record as a coach says it all:
- Olympic medals (AK/U19/U17)
- 4 World Championship medals (2x AK/2x juniors)
- 18 European Championship medals (2x AK/4xU23/7xJuniors/5x Youth)
- 53 medals (Masters/GS/GP/World Cup)
From Wimpassinger’s perspective, Adi’s daughter Tina Reiter and Mario Buchebner took on the active role as fighters at the Final Four in Gmunden. Both were successful as licensed fighters for other clubs. While Tina was able to help her team UJZ Mühlviertel win their first title in the women’s Bundesliga with two important lightning victories, Mario contributed decisive victories for his chosen team Burgkirchen-Schwand to win the championship title in the 2nd men’s Bundesliga.
JC Wimpassing Sparkasse will also take part in the men’s Bundesliga again in 2025 with a young team.
