Three fast titles, two cross-country coups and a retiring national coach: The German World Cup days in Planica were extremely turbulent. A record makes the ski association happy.
Gold rush in ski jumping, silver series in Nordic combined and the long-awaited end of a twelve-year lull in cross-country skiing: The German team can start the short journey home from the World Championships in Planica, Slovenia, with great satisfaction even without any countable successes on the final weekend.
All in all, twelve medals mean not only a doubling of the yield from two years ago at the home world championships in Oberstdorf, but also a German record at the Nordic World Ski Championships.
Althaus wins three gold medals in singles
“Overall we are extremely satisfied,” said team manager Horst Hüttel, who is responsible for ski jumping and combination – and in the spring he has to look for a new national combined coach because Hermann Weinbuch announced his retirement at the end of the season after more than two decades. The successful 62-year-old coach was denied a world title at the end of his career.
While the atmosphere in the picturesque valley of the hills became better and more euphoric during the course of the World Championships, the German team around three-time world champion Katharina Althaus already experienced the big highlights in the first week. “The last day has a bitter aftertaste. The first week was outstanding, we didn’t see that coming,” said ski jumper Karl Geiger, who was satisfied with fifth place in the team competition on Saturday with Markus Eisenbichler, Andreas Wellinger and Constantin Schmid had to.
One day after the acclaimed Timi Zajc’s World Championship title, host Slovenia added gold again by winning the team competition ahead of Norway and Austria. The German Ski Association (DSV) quickly dismissed this defeat and instead spoke of a sporting resurrection almost two months after the messed up Four Hills Tournament. “All the nations of the world have congratulated us for ten days now. We have been able to congratulate the others for the last two days,” described the official Hüttel.
Although Wellinger (silver) and Geiger (bronze) won their individual medals, Althaus became the great German ski jumping star from Planica. The 26-year-old from the Allgäu won three gold medals in the individual, team and mixed events within four days, followed by bronze on the large hill. Althaus is in demand like never before: the return to Oberstdorf on Friday was followed by a live broadcast on ZDF’s “Aktuelle Sportstudio” on Saturday evening. “It’s incredibly cool. I had a little reception from my family and friends at home, which surprised me,” said Althaus after the golden days of Planica.
Norway dominates in the Nordic combined
Although the combined team, led by Julian Schmid and Nathalie Armbruster, won four silver medals, there was no way around Norway with four-time world champions Jarl Magnus Riiber and Gyda Westvold Hansen. Weinbuch was moved when he announced his retirement on the ARD microphone on Saturday, but he should remain with the DSV in another capacity until the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. “The future is taken care of,” said Weinbuch, referring to 23-year-old Schmid and Olympic champion Vinzenz Geiger (25).
This also applies to the cross-country skiers, who won silver (women) and bronze (men) in the relays. “We have to be satisfied with the intermediate step we took. Purely from the medal color, it looks worse than at the Olympics. But, if you’re honest, it’s another step forward,” said team boss Peter Schlickenrieder. In Beijing, there was Olympic gold in the women’s team sprint and silver in the women’s relay.
The fact that hopeful Katharina Hennig had nothing to do with the medals over the 30 kilometers on Saturday and, being fourth in the skiathlon, narrowly missed out on the medals, was easier to bear with the team successes. Since 2011 in Oslo, the team had to wait more than 4,300 days for a World Cup medal – then there were two podium finishes within 24 hours. The men’s relay in particular seemed completely overwhelmed. “Now we are no longer just the little cross-country skiers in Germany, now we also have a fucking medal,” said Janosch Brugger.
Source: Stern
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