Ski jumper Althaus wins first German medal in Beijing

Katharina Althaus won Olympic silver in ski jumping, giving the German team its first medal at the Winter Games in China. The 25-year-old was only beaten by Slovenian Ursa Bogataj on Saturday. Nika Kriznar from Slovenia also secured bronze. Althaus jumped 105.5 and 94 meters from the normal hill in Zhangjiakou.

The girl from Oberstdorf started the competition as the favorite for a medal and was in the lead after the first round. She is second in the overall World Cup. The leading Marita Kramer from Austria could not take part in the Olympic competition due to a corona infection.

At the past games in Pyeongchang, Althaus had won silver behind Maren Lundby. Neither the Norwegian, who skips the entire season, nor the weak Vogt are there this time. Althaus has long since taken over Vogt’s role in the German team. The Allgäu native has been the most consistent German jumper for years and is an absolute top performer in the team of national coach Maximilian Mechler, who took over from Andreas Bauer in the summer.

After things didn’t go so well last season – no German jumper made it onto the podium in an individual World Cup – Althaus has regained his old strength this winter. She won the World Cup in Lillehammer, and Althaus jumped onto the podium a total of seven times. With changing winds and freezing cold, strong nerves were required in Zhangjiakou. Althaus and her best competitors from Slovenia put on a great ski jumping show in front of almost empty ranks.

Althaus didn’t want Kramer’s absence to be seen as an opportunity for himself. “I’m so sorry for her that she can’t jump with us here,” she said after strong training jumps. “I hope she gets her chance in four years.”

Althaus has the next opportunity to win another medal on Monday. Together with a teammate and two jumpers from the team of national coach Stefan Horngacher, she then wants to attack in the mixed team.