Nordic World Ski Championships: “round beer” and individual gold: Althaus is world champion

Nordic World Ski Championships
“Round of beers” and individual gold: Althaus is world champion

Katharina Althaus celebrates after her World Cup victory. photo

© Daniel Karmann/dpa

Katharina Althaus was determined to fulfill this dream: Gold in the individual! The new ski jumping world champion is overwhelmed and announces a boozy evening.

The overwhelmed ski jumping world champion Katharina Althaus finally felt crowned with the matching classic “The Best” by Tina Turner. Silver at the 2018 Olympics, silver at the 2019 World Championships, silver at the 2022 Olympics: The stigma of always being second at major events has finally been eliminated after the gold coup in Planica, Althaus collapsed in tears in the outrun of the normal hill.

“It’s just mega. It’s the first time it’s worked out for me. I’m just happy,” said the 26-year-old, who spontaneously threw kisses into the audience and, despite the cold, walked to the award ceremony with short sleeves. “You can throw a round of beer and drink it,” Althaus announced happily.

Althaus takes gold, Friday is fourth

Her loud cheers in the outlet could be heard in the audience. When Norway’s Anne Odine Stroem, who was leading after the first round, made a mistake and the victory was perfect, Althaus was briefly unable to control her feelings. Suddenly all the failures and little things that were missing at various events for the big hit in the singles were forgotten.

“I don’t even know what to say. I’m just really happy. I haven’t checked it yet,” said Althaus. Her teammates around the surprisingly strong Selina Freitag (fourth place), Anna Rupprecht (ninth) and Luisa Görlich (15th) immediately grabbed their top athlete and started celebrating. The other medals went to Eva Pinkelnig from Austria and Norway’s Stroem.

“It’s indescribable. Katha ski jumped really well. I’m very happy for her that things are going so well here,” said national coach Maximilian Mechler. Althaus deliberately kept expectations low during the days in Slovenia. “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.

In front of the surprisingly meager crowd of around 1000 spectators (Mechler: “That doesn’t matter today”), a gripping competition developed, which the German team 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.

Friday: “I really liked the jump”

Freitag also put in a convincing performance, almost winning a surprising individual medal. “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. Her second attempt was similarly flawless, but Althaus, Pinkelnig and Stroem were a tad stronger.

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 therefore also be a duo for the mixed on Sunday (5 p.m.).

The change from Andreas Bauer – long-standing success coach – to Mechler in 2021 has already paid off for the German Ski Association (DSV). The meager home World Championships in Oberstdorf was followed by Olympic silver and now World Championship gold for Althaus, who had previously 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.

dpa

source site-2