Nordic World Ski Championships 2023 will start in the mythical winter sports resort of Planica

Mythos Planica. The Valley of the Schanzen has spruced itself up. Finally, the Slovenians who are enthusiastic about winter sports can show that this magical place also has world champion flair. The Nordic World Ski Championships, which started on Wednesday with the first qualifying competitions and will continue to attract around 600 athletes from 66 nations to the Slovenia-Austria-Italy triangle until March 5, has arrived at home.

After three unsuccessful attempts, Planica was awarded the contract for the global showdown on the hill and in the cross-country ski run. “Planica, you queen of snow. Your reputation is known all over the world,” says the catchy polka “Planica, Planica”. With each long jump, the chorus is played.

When it comes to awarding the 24 world championship titles – twelve in cross-country skiing, seven in ski jumping, five in Nordic combined – alongside the apparently overpowering Norwegians, who won 13 titles at the last World Championships in Oberstdorf, the Germans also want to intervene decisively. Alone: ​​There are no clear favorites. In the combined athletes, all eyes will be on Julian Schmid, who has already won three World Cups this season. The 23-year-old from Oberstdorf has put himself in a promising position through courageous performances.

Generation change in the combination

He is the man of the future, he stands for the generational change that has been initiated in the combined athletes, from which permanent national coach Hermann Weinbuch, in office since 1996, is retiring from his management post after the end of the season. Old champion Eric Frenzel, together with the Norwegian Björn Dählie with 17 medals the record winner at the Nordic World Ski Championships, and Johannes Rydzek have not made it into the top three in this World Cup winter. “The younger generation has overtaken them,” says Weinbuch. “That is clearly visible.”

At 27, someone like Andreas Wellinger is far from being old-fashioned. But he’s experienced, he’s an Olympic champion – and above all: he’s back. World Cup victories in Lake Placid and Rasnov in the past two weeks have boosted his already great self-confidence. “He’s back and has taken the lead in the team,” says national coach Stefan Horngacher.

In the sport of ski jumping, which is particularly exposed to the vagaries of the weather and in which the athletes constantly and sensitively fine-tune the flight system, it is not unusual for a long-time expert to suddenly be at the forefront again. “At the moment he is our most promising jumper,” says Horngacher, knowing full well that teammate Karl Geiger is waiting in wait who won four medals in all four competitions at the home World Championships in Allgäu.

“The atmosphere is absolutely amazing”

Wellinger expresses what many are currently thinking and feeling. “The atmosphere here in the mountains is absolutely amazing. That with sunshine, then nothing stands in the way of great competitions.” In the Julian Alps, around the 1637 meter high Vitranc, the sun is currently shining on these world championship days – and tens of thousands of spectators will regularly stream into the Nordic Center of Planica, where the eight ski jumps lined up like organ pipes characterize the overall picture. “I’ve often gotten in the face in the last few years,” says Wellinger, who was repeatedly slowed down by injuries after his Olympic victory in 2018. “But I never lost my passion for ski jumping.”

The passion for Nordic winter sports knows no bounds. This becomes particularly clear on the opening day of a World Cup that takes place every two years. It’s exotic time. Those athletes who are overjoyed to be there at all in a moment that is magical for them. Just like Karla Schleske. The 40-year-old Mexican experienced her own personal moment of glory in the five-kilometer freestyle race on Wednesday. It is her first participation in the World Cup.

For this, the long-time heptathlete swapped the tartan track for the cross-country ski run. “I love being in the snow and in the mountains,” she says – and is overjoyed about 29th place. “I travel wherever there is snow.” Alaska, Colorado, Iceland – there is no way for women from the coastal town of Veracruz too far. “I want to bring this wonderful sport closer to my country and be the first Mexican woman at the Olympics in 2026,” says Karla Schleske. It would be a first for a cross-country skier from the land of the Aztecs.

The time is ripe for Katharina Althaus

A dream has also come true for the Lebanese Huguette Fakhry with the start in Planica. When asked about her goal, the cross-country skier, who finished 33rd in the field of 39 starters with a gap of almost eight minutes, says quite immodestly: “I want to be world champion.” It should remain a dream for the woman from the Middle East. The same goes for the ambitious Iranian Samaneh Beyrami Baher, who only trained on snow for eight days before starting in Planica – and came in a respectable eighth.

“I’m very happy about that.” Happy, that’s what the Oberstdorf ski jumper Katharina Althaus wants to be too, who really grabs the title this Thursday. She is in great form and has won six times this World Cup winter. For them, the time seems ripe that, after years in which there was nothing but silver at major events, the leap to the top finally succeeds. To do this, she has to purposefully go down the small ski jump in the magical valley of Planica.