At the end of the 2024 season
The German winter sports certificate
Benedikt Doll has retired as an athlete. photo
© Hendrik Schmidt/dpa
It’s halftime between Beijing and Milan. How did Germany’s athletes fare two years before the next Winter Olympics? A seasonal review of censorship.
The sports winter 2023/2024 is over. Two years before At the Olympic Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo there was more shadow than light for the German snow and ice athletes.
Only four sports perform better than satisfactory; at the halfway point in the Olympic cycle, only figure skating and speed skating have improved in the rating compared to 2022. The German Press Agency draws conclusions about the winter.
Biathlon: At the start of the season there were a surprising number of victories, podium places and a total of three German biathletes in the yellow jersey. After strong preliminary performances, the World Championships in the Czech Republic were rather sobering with only three medals (1x silver, 2x bronze) and no title. Among the men, the Norwegians were far ahead, and among the women, it was mostly the French who were too strong. Benedikt Doll, the last active individual world champion, retired at the end of the season after two wins this season. There is a lot of talent in the young women’s team, but they still have to prove themselves with a view to the 2026 Olympics. – Note 3-
Bob: All the overall World Cup victories and World Championship titles were not enough for the Germans; they occupied every podium at the home World Cup in Winterberg three times except in the monobob (gold and bronze). After the successes at the Olympics in Beijing, the competition had introduced special changes to the regulations in the materials sector. “We are working to the limit in all areas,” said head coach René Spies, who has new hope for the 2026 Olympics in Adam Ammour. The next World Cup in Lake Placid will certainly present a different picture. – Note 1
Figure skating: Glamor and sadness at the Figure Skating World Championships in Canada for the German Ice Skating Union: While the pairs Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Wolodin and Annika Hocke/Robert Kunkel provided a highlight with bronze and fifth place, the individual skaters and ice dancers were all eliminated after the short program. This means things are looking bleak when it comes to Olympic qualification at the World Cup next year. Kristina Isaev is currently the only German runner of international level in the master class. Among the men, in addition to World Cup starter Nikita Starostin, there is currently German champion Kai Jagoda, who is just as unstable in his performance. The ice dancers Jennifer Janse van Rensburg/Benjamin Steffan are stagnating. – Grade 4
Speed skating: European Championship silver in the team pursuit brought a collective sigh of relief in the German speed skating and short track community. It was the first medal at a European individual distance championship since 2018 for the association, which has been lagging behind previous successes for years. The up-and-coming Erfurt training collective of short and medium distance athletes Moritz Klein, Hendrik Dombek and Stefan Emele, including the talented Anna Ostlender from Inzell, also provided rays of hope. On the long-haul, however, things look rather poor for both men and women. With a view to the 2026 Winter Games, the DESG is primarily focusing on team competitions. Overall, however, the world leader is still a long way away. – Grade 4
Nordic combination: The first winter without successful coach Hermann Weinbuch was a very complicated one. All individual victories for both women and men went to Norway and Austria. There is nothing left of the team’s former dominance with current head coach Eric Frenzel and Johannes Rydzek. Manuel Faißt and David Mach for the men and Nathalie Armbruster for the women made it onto the podium. Without the Olympics and the World Cup, there was no real highlight of the season this winter. – Grade 4
Tobogganing: Long-time national coach Norbert Loch said goodbye with his 44th World Cup gold. At the home World Championships in Altenberg, however, the tobogganers were not quite as successful as last year in Oberhof with eight titles and a further eight medals. The German team won a total of seven precious metal medals in Saxony. In addition to the team gold at the hole farewell, Max Langenhan and Julia Taubitz also achieved World Cup victories. They were also ahead in the World Cup. – Grade 2
Skeleton: Christopher Grotheer’s third world title after 2020 and 2021 shows the extra class of the Beijing Olympic champion. But the German men are not optimally positioned across the board, especially as the British are becoming increasingly stronger. In the women’s category, Beijing Olympic champion Hannah Neise won bronze on her home track. However, the best German in the World Cup, Tina Hermann, was not qualified for the home World Cup. This speaks for the quantitative breadth of the squad, but also for the lack of consistency. Defending champion Susanne Kreher ended up in a disappointing tenth place. Overall, Germany is lagging behind the current world leaders at the start. – Grade 2
Alpine skiing: The slalom aces Linus Straßer and Lena Dürr, who each ended up in second place in the discipline rankings, brighten up the disappointing overall German results. Straßer caused a sensation with his victories in the prestigious gate races in Kitzbühel and Schladming and achieved a total of five podium places, Dürr only one less. In the fast disciplines, the men experienced a fiasco and missed the season finale. The resignation of the former Streif winner Thomas Dreßen further clouds the prospects for the future. In the women’s race, Kira Weidle didn’t live up to expectations by a long shot, but she didn’t make it onto the podium once either. – Grade 4
Cross-country skiing: Two years after Olympic gold in Beijing and one year after the World Cup relay medals in Planica, Peter Schlickenrieder’s team achieved the best and most consistent World Cup winter in a long time. Victoria Carl finished the season fourth in the overall World Cup and was repeatedly on the podium. Katharina Hennig, Coletta Rydzek and Friedrich Moch were also among the world elite. The times when Germany’s cross-country skiers were left behind weekend after weekend are over. “You can’t rate that highly enough,” said Schlickenrieder. – Grade 2
Ski jumping: The season started very strongly with individual victories from Pius Paschke, Karl Geiger and Andreas Wellinger. Wellinger also impressed at the Four Hills Tournament, although the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi prevented the first German overall victory in 22 years. The Olympic champion from Bavaria had his best overall season and finished third overall. There was also individual silver and team bronze at the Ski Flying World Championships. The rest of the team declined significantly in 2024. Things also went significantly worse for the women around three-time world champion Katharina Schmid than in the previous season. – Note 3
Snowboard: Ramona Hofmeister caused a sensation with her triple. The 27-year-old won the overall Alpine World Cup for the fourth time and also the discipline classifications in the parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom. The German snowboard crossers were mostly behind after top athlete Martin Nörl was out of the season due to injury, but Leon Ulbricht pulled off a surprise with his victory in Sierra Nevada. Of the freestylers, only Annika Morgan impressed as third in the slopestyle ranking. – Note 3