In the first round, Katharina Althaus jumped to second place, reaching for the first German medal at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica. In the final round, Althaus improves in the competition on the normal hill – and then the leader falls behind.
Major event specialist Katharina Althaus has celebrated the most important success of her career and is ski jumping world champion for the first time. The 26-year-old from the Allgäu won the individual on the normal hill, ending her silver series. For Althaus it is the next individual medal after the 2018 Olympics, the 2019 World Championships and the 2022 Olympics – this time in gold for the first time. “We never dreamed of that. She did everything right. She pulled it off, that was really strong,” said national coach Maximilian Mechler on ZDF. Eva Pinkelnig from Austria and Norway’s Anna Odine Stroem got the other medals.
Althaus immediately collapsed in tears and let out a loud whoop of joy. “I would also be very, very satisfied with second place. Everything has to be right on the small hill so that you can even compete for the medals,” she said before the first decision, in which she jumped 98.5 and 97 meters and with that all surpassed, stressed. She threw kisses on the hands of the audience, the best German seemed overwhelmed. “I don’t even know what to say. I’m just really happy. I haven’t checked it yet,” said Althaus.
In front of the surprisingly poor crowd of around 1000 spectators, a gripping competition developed, which the German team of national coach Maximilian Mechler played a major role in shaping. In the end, Althaus showed particularly strong nerves and got the decisive points with the strong landing in the second jump. Meanwhile, Stroem, who had been leading up to that point, lost the decisive points and had to let Althaus and Pinkelnig pass.
Selina Freitag also put in a strong performance, coming fourth and just barely missing out on a surprising medal coup. “I’m just really relieved. The jump was really good, it was the best so far. I just cheered. Wonderful! I thought the jump was great,” said Freitag about her first jump of 97 meters.
Brother Richard Freitag, who himself had been a top ski jumper for years before retiring last March, traveled to Slovenia with his parents to see jumping. The 31-year-old said proudly: “It’s amazing! It’s really nice to see how she’s developed.” Althaus and Freitag should also be a duo for the mixed on Sunday (5 p.m.). Anna Rupprecht (9th) and Luisa Görlich (15th) also made it into the second round.
The change from Andreas Bauer – long-standing success coach – to Mechler in 2021 has already paid off for the German Ski Association (DSV). The poor home World Championships in Oberstdorf were followed by Olympic silver and now World Championship gold for Althaus, who has already won six singles this winter. “It’s a great situation that she’s up there,” said the former athlete and current coach Mechler. Althaus and Co. also have medal chances on the large hill, in team jumping and in mixed.
