Fighting spirit I developed as a young boy already. Being the fifth of eight children I had to continuously convince my parents of my importance. This was not alway perceived positively and caused mother’s increased “attention” in form of sanctions which I only escaped with agility and quickness. Breathlessly my mother usually gave up on these chases. Those were my first competitions.

Initially I wanted to become soccer player ... Every day, no matter how the weather was, I spent on the football grounds – and even when there was no soccer game I kicked with the neighbour boys towards one goal. 

My mother was pretty angry when I finally found my way home after nightfall and then started with my homework..

The sports secondary school gave me the possibility to at least partly act out my urge to move. No matter what kind of sport – I always wanted to be the best. So I tried tennis, table tennis, running, biking, skiing and, of course, soccer. When needed I there played all positions concurrently.

Gym lessons were also held at the excellent cross country area at Hochreith near Göstling.

Cross country skiing, the complex action/motion/move in the nature fascinated me from the beginning. The gym lessons were prolonged voluntarily with some extra laps. An amateur, thrilled by my joy and endurance, gave me a pair of cross country skiers for pupils... Eventually I was asked whether I would start at the regions championship. At that time I was happy for every competition and quickly agreed. That was in the winter of 1999/2000. In this first race I reached 2nd place in my age class (pupils 1). In the relay we finished 3rd. From that moment it became clear that I would participate at the rest of all region races in the so called Anker Cup. In the overall standings I also finished 2nd behind Stefan Rosenberger.

Summer 2000 belonged to soccer again. Completely concentrated on my career as professional I trial trained with Rapid Vienna and Admira in Lower Austria. In autumn I was accepted to the soccer training group at the regions trainings center in Waidhofen, some 30 kilometers away from home. There, I enjoyed to train in good team four times per week.
As additional training session I viewed the invitation of my elder brother Florian (at that time Austrian Junior Champion in mountain running) to join him for the Austrian Championships in this sport in Saalbach/Hinterglemm (Salzburg/Austria). This was real fun. Snow was flurrying when I reached the summit among the top runners and – what surprise! – I finished the race as Austrian Champion of the youth class.

In the following winter 2000/01 I also made progress in cross country skiing and was accepted to the regions team. 

During spring 2001, the final semester at the sports school in Goestling I finally had to chose between soccer and cross country skiing. 4 qualifying examinations – 2 for sport high schools focused on soccer – 2 stressing on cross country skiing in Schladming and Stams should lead a decision. After 3 acceptances (1x soccer, 2 x cross country skiing) I finally decided to go for the education/formation at the skiing high school in Stams/Tyrol.

Now, years later, I like to thank my parents, that they supported my decision and encouraged me to keep up in difficult times as well as they have challenged me. 

Meanwhile, my junior years have ended with a difficult year 2006, passing the final exams at the high school having a tonsil abscessus at the same time and followed by a mononucleosis knocking me out of sports for 6 months. I slowly recovered towards the end of the year and started with competitions in December.

Anticipating a lost season I fully concentrated on the World Junior Championship in Tarvis in March 2007. These Championships became the highlight of the season and of my entire career so far. The first race I finished at 6th place in 10 km skating/free style. That was more than I hoped for and made me really happy. To my surprise it even became better with a 5th place in double pursuit only to be topped with the bronce medal in the relay together with my team members Markus Bader, Michael Reiter, and Felizian Herburger – THIS IS HEAVEN!

At the moment I am a regular soldier of the Austrian army having the opportunity to fully devote myself to my beloved sport.

As balance and compensation to top sport I started a master’s studies at the University of Innsbruck in 2006.
My goals for the season 2008/09 are to achieve good positions in the Continental Cup and in the U23 World Championships as well as to gain experience and a foothold in World Cup races. On medium term I like to fight for World Cup points.