Ski jumper Katharina Althaus wins the first German medal in Beijing

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Winter Games 2022
Ski jumper Althaus wins first German medal in Beijing

Ski jumper Katharina Althaus celebrates her silver medal

© CHRISTOF STACHE / AFP

Ski jumper Katharina Althaus won the first medal for the German team at the Olympic Winter Games in China. Already on Monday she is challenged again.

Katharina Althaus won Olympic silver in ski jumping, giving the German team its first medal at the Winter Games in China. The 25-year-old was only beaten by Ursa Bogataj from Slovenia on Saturday. Nika Kriznar from Slovenia also secured bronze. Althaus jumped 105.5 and 94 meters from the normal hill in Zhangjiakou.

The girl from Oberstdorf started the competition as the favorite for a medal and was in the lead after the first round. She is second in the overall World Cup. The leading Marita Kramer from Austria could not take part in the Olympic competition due to a corona infection.

Katharina Althaus regains her strength

At the past games in Pyeongchang, Althaus had won silver behind Maren Lundby. Neither the Norwegian, who skips the entire season, nor the weak Vogt are there this time. Althaus has long since taken over Vogt’s role in the German team. The Allgäu native has been the most consistent German jumper for years and is an absolute top performer in the team of national coach Maximilian Mechler, who took over from Andreas Bauer in the summer.

After things didn’t go so well last season – no German jumper made it onto the podium in an individual World Cup – Althaus has regained his old strength this winter. She won the World Cup in Lillehammer, and Althaus jumped onto the podium a total of seven times. With changing winds and freezing cold, strong nerves were required in Zhangjiakou. Althaus and her best competitors from Slovenia put on a great ski jumping show in front of almost empty stands.

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The reigning German champion Paul Fentz is a passionate figure skater. You have to emphasize that because he lost his job in the Bundeswehr sports promotion company two years ago and his squad promotion and sports aid were canceled in October last year. So the man no longer receives any support. Nevertheless, Fentz continues undeterred and can call himself the best German figure skater with a clear conscience. Although he missed the Olympic norm for the individual competition, he was named to the team for Beijing and will start in the team competition.

The reigning German champion Paul Fentz is a passionate figure skater. You have to emphasize that because he lost his job in the Bundeswehr sports promotion company two years ago and his squad promotion and sports aid were canceled in October last year. So the man no longer receives any support. Nevertheless, Fentz continues undeterred and can call himself the best German figure skater with a clear conscience. Although he missed the Olympic norm for the individual competition, he was named to the team for Beijing and will start in the team competition.

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Althaus didn’t want Kramer’s absence to be seen as an opportunity for himself. “I’m so sorry for her that she can’t jump with us here,” she said after strong training jumps. “I hope she gets her chance in four years.”

Althaus has the next opportunity to win another medal on Monday. Together with a teammate and two jumpers from the team of national coach Stefan Horngacher, she then wants to attack in the mixed team.

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DPA

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