Ski jumper Katharina Althaus celebrated the hat trick at the third home World Cup of the season. In Willingen, the Olympic silver medalist from Oberstdorf won in front of more than 20,000 spectators after a sensational second jump of 149.5 meters in front of Ema Klinec (Slovenia) and Sara Takanashi (Japan). Althaus had previously triumphed in Hinterzarten and Titisee-Neustadt. “The jump was just great. It was so much fun sitting up there. An amazing atmosphere, that pushed me,” Althaus said on ARD: “I noticed it went really far. Perfectly easy. ” National coach Maximilian Mechler was also enthusiastic: “It was a really strong jump.”
Althaus, 26, was still third after the first round with 133.0 meters, but outperformed the leaders Klinec and Takanashi with a giant leap on the Mühlenkopfschanze in bright sunshine. For Althaus it was already the fifth World Cup victory of the current season, she reduced the gap in the overall standings to leader Eva Pinkelnig (Austria) to 151 points.
Just landed safely: Timi Zajc.
(Photo: Oliver Lerch/GEPA pictures/Imago)
Meanwhile, the bizarre 161.5-meter flight of the Slovenian Timi Zajc at the World Cup in Willingen keeps the ski jumping scene busy. “Something like that shouldn’t really happen, you have to say that it’s very dangerous. I hope he’s safe. Something like that can end really badly,” criticized Germany’s top athlete Karl Geiger.
With strongly changing winds, Zajc had caught a particularly large updraft and was still three to four meters in the air in the actual landing area. Although the Slovenian broke off the jump prematurely, he reached a utopian 161.5 meters and fell. The 22-year-old pilot then gave the all-clear. “I’m fine, but I was really scared. It’s way too dangerous to compete,” said Zajc.
The completely unusual Zajc flight classified the former world-class athlete Andreas Goldberger: “It’s like jumping from a five-meter board into dry land. Or you do a squat with 250 kilos.” The Japanese Yuki Ito had previously flown 154.5 meters on Friday in the mixed, which was massively influenced by the wind, and was also unable to stand the attempt.