Katharina Althaus inspires in Willingen

7500 on Friday. 23,400 on Saturday, sold out, 15,000 on Sunday: ski jumping has its spectators again, its party atmosphere, its excitement, which can be felt even in the enthusiastic crowds. The weekend in the Upland had everything to offer that makes sport out there interesting, including wind and weather.

On Friday, gusts of wind threw up the schedule, and the drizzling fans needed stamina in the Sauerland. Then the bratwurst helps. And the mulled wine. After two ghost jumps, none of the fans cared. Finally again to experience the World Cup. Karl Geiger, Andreas Wellinger, Selina Freitag and Katharina Althaus jumped into third place in the team competition as a national team behind Norway and Austria.

Best conditions

“Willingen, he’s coming,” the stadium announcer calls out to the crowd in front of each jumper. And how he came. The Slovenian Timi Zajc, carried by wind and skill, flew the unbelievable distance of 161.5 meters on Friday, luckily remained uninjured in the subsequent fall and triggered a change of plan with his powerful, seemingly never-ending leap. The men’s qualification was moved to Saturday. It was worth it.

With temperatures just above freezing, the sun even shone from time to time, ideal conditions for athletes and spectators. They plunged Willingen into a sea of ​​black-red-gold and white-red flags. “The Poles are out of control, but always nice, even when they’re drunk,” says the bus driver. “Willingen again. We’re back,” sounds out of the loudspeaker, more or less musically. The atmosphere is familiar, friendly, rousing, zero aggression, no one is booed, quite different from the football stadium.

While the women are jumping around noon, the stadium is already full. The organizers announce a record. There have never been so many spectators at the women’s jumping event. The audience cheers when the German jumpers fly in. But even with the Polish, just as loud. The main attraction is (still) the men, World Cup in the afternoon and later under floodlights, full hut.

The local hero Stephan Leyhe gets a lot of sympathy, the strongest encouragement flies to Markus Eisenbichler, who repeatedly shows his feelings in public. He wins the qualification on Saturday with frenetic jubilation, but cannot save his performance in the final ranking.

It is a close competition, the inventor of the green line reflected in the jump is awarded a badge of honour. It makes it possible for the spectators to experience at a glance how close it is, whether it is enough for victory or not. It’s not enough for the German team. She is a good team player and reaches good positions. Philipp Raimund jumps into the top ten for the first time, with which he is “super satisfied”. He appreciates the atmosphere and especially praises the long run into the middle of the crowd of fans.

Karl Geiger is fifth, a good comeback after his competition break, with which he is “really satisfied”. But damn it. In a competition, two or three are always better, especially one: In Willingen, too, there is no way around the Norwegian Halvor Egner Granerud, who seems to dominate the competition in both jumps and with 149.5 and 138 meters ahead of Anze Lanisek from Slovenia and the Pole Dawid Kubacki triumphed. On Sunday he repeats his flight show with 147.5 and 142 meters, leaving Ryoyu Kobayashi (Japan) and the Norwegian Daniel-André Tande behind. Best German: Eisenbichler in ninth place.

“The Granerud wins the thing,” was a widely held opinion among insiders. And it turned out to be apt, on this weekend of discovery. The exuberant atmosphere, the beer orders by the dozen, the music in an endless loop, the perfect organization, the friendly police – so far normal in the Upland, predictable. But not the appearance of Katharina Althaus.

Her victory in the first of two competitions – on Sunday she finished eighth behind Selina Freitag in the triumph of Japanese rider Yuki Ito – will continue to inspire her: how she takes off and sails and sails on Saturday. “Great job,” exclaims Wellinger, “madness” exclaims Eisenbichler: touchdown at 149.5 meters, personal record, far behind the competition, outstanding. Therefore in the future and rightly so: “Willingen, she’s coming.”