Katharina Althaus cried out with happiness, then the new world champion let her tears of joy run free: With two dream flights in the ski jumping Mecca Planica, the woman from Oberstdorf finally conquered her silver curse and won the first individual gold of her career. “I’m really happy and I don’t understand it all yet. I’ll throw a round of beers on that tonight,” said the 26-year-old after the biggest coup of her career.
Althaus showed strong nerves in front of only 1000 spectators: After the first round she was second, in the end she beat Eva Pinkelnig (Austria) and Norway’s Anna Odine Ström with jumps of 98.5 and 97.0 m the places. The six-time winner of the season followed in the footsteps of Carina Vogt, who was the only German to become world champion in 2015 and 2017.
“Of course I trembled. It wasn’t the first time at a World Cup, but the first time it turned out like this,” said Althaus in a halting voice: “I’m so grateful for everyone who helped me on the way here. Thank you to all.”
Most importantly, Althaus finally ended her silver streak. Whether it was the 2018 Olympics, the 2019 World Championships or, most recently, the 2022 Olympics, even the 2012 Youth Olympics and the 2016 Junior World Championships, there was always just a tiny bit missing to the top. Now, after her World Championship titles with the team and in mixed, she was finally alone on the summit. “It’s sensational, she kept her nerve and pulled it off. Hats off,” said national coach Maximilian Mechler: “We couldn’t have dreamed of that.”
“If the jumps are right, I’m up there. But especially on the small hill, everything has to work out so that you can compete for the medals,” Althaus said after her – of course – second place in the qualification. Everything worked out this time – the conditions were fair and the approach, which wasn’t always perfect recently, was also right. World Championship debutant Selina Freitag also shone in fourth.
“It’s amazing. It’s really nice to see how she’s developed,” said her brother Richard Freitag – the former world-class jumper cheered on the spot. Anna Rupprecht (Degenfeld) and Luisa Görlich (Lauscha) rounded off the strong German result in ninth and 15th place.
The host experienced a disappointment: defending champion Ema Klinec only came in 19th place, so the best Slovenian was Nika Kriznar, who came third in the Olympics, in eleventh place. Olympic champion Ursa Bogataj did not even start because of a cruciate ligament tear. Meanwhile, Japan’s Sara Takanashi continued her losing streak at major events, finishing 20th. The Asian holds a lone record with 63 successes in the World Cup, but has always had to leave the big titles to the competition.