“A role model for many”
Special award for ex-ski star Neureuther
04/28/2025 – 7:48 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
His end of his career was six years ago. Now Felix Neureuther no longer captivates on the slopes, but with his social commitment.
Felix Neureuther has received a special award: The Association of German Sports Journalists (VDS) honored the former German ski racer with the Golden Band for 2024. The traditional price is awarded to personalities who have emerged with their social engagement in the area of sport.
Neureuther was honored in Munich for his many years of commitment to inspire children for sports. Already during his active career, the 41-year-old organized the “Felix-Neureuther-Race-Camp” for young athletes together with the German Ski Association. He also initiated the project “Moving Smart” together with the Technical University of Munich.
After his end of his career in 2019, he founded the Felix Neureuther Foundation in 2020. Your goal: convey joy in exercise. The foundation also wants to sensitize children and adolescents to environmental protection.
Erich Laaser, Honorary President of the VDS and chairman of the jury, said that this commitment was “particularly worthy of award”. “Felix Neureuther is a role model for many,” said Laaser.
For Neureuther himself, the award is a “great honor”. He emphasized: “I come from a family in which the name ‘Gold’ means responsibility and obligation and why social engagement became a matter close to the heart.”
Neureuther, son of the “Gold-Rosi” Mittermaier and Christian Neureuther, who died in 2023, added that the sport gave him a lot. That is why, in his view, it is extremely important that athletes use their voice “to also make something socially”. Real stories that “do something” would only be created by working with sports journalists.