Katharina Althaus has ten World Cup victories in the statistics – she celebrates five of them in Lillehammer. Also this weekend she is successful in Norway. She now wants to take her top form with her to a very special premiere.
Katharina Althaus did not wear a reindeer sweater. But otherwise not much was missing, and Germany’s best ski jumper would have applied for Norwegian honorary citizenship on the spot in exuberance. “I’m really happy that it worked out here in Lillehammer again,” said Althaus after her first win of the season on Saturday: “I just love being here, I love the snow and the cold.”
The 26-year-old from Oberstdorf impressively lived up to her reputation as the ice queen of the Olympic city of 1994 – even if she just didn’t make it to the podium on Sunday in jumping off her beloved large hill with fourth place. With her dominance on the normal hill at Lysgaardsbakken, Althaus had even amazed the competition: “Katha was unbeatable,” said Austria’s World Cup leader Eva Pinkelnig.
And that’s what Althaus is regularly in Lillehammer: The victory on Saturday was her tenth World Cup victory, five of which – three on the small hill and two on the large hill – she celebrated on her favorite facility.
The fact that Althaus, who was second at the mat opener in Wisla, is jumping at a high level early in the season is a blessing for the German association. After all, the men around Karl Geiger, who took a break this weekend, are not going so well. And the excellent form of the two-time Olympic silver medalist comes at exactly the right season – because it is a historic one for women’s ski jumping.
For the first time, a “New Year’s Tournament” will take place, which, with the venues of Villach (Austria) and Ljubno (Slovenia), does not yet fulfill the desire for a “real” Four Hills Tournament with men. “It’s not what we fought for, but it’s not bad either,” said Althaus.
And then, at the end of the season, the women are officially allowed to go ski flying for the first time in the World Cup, on the world’s largest hill in Vikersund, in Norway. It couldn’t be nicer for Althaus, the Fastehren-Norwegian, for whom no hill can be big enough: “It’s a childhood dream come true.”