Right at the front again: Andreas Wellinger jumped in the dark evening sky from Planica to the silver medal at the World Championships.
Photo: IMAGO/Eibner
»We are the number 1, the number 1, the number 1 in the world.« Again and again, Germany’s ski jumpers enthusiastically sang their favorite song in the Planica ski jumping arena. The song was heard for the first time after Katharina Althaus’ historic individual gold medal, on Saturday the German women were able to celebrate their second world championship title after the sovereign triumph in the team competition.
Inspired by this, Andreas Wellinger then sensationally won silver and Karl Geiger bronze in the men’s individual competition. A sporty resurrection after a disappointing season so far, including a crash at the Four Hills Tournament. Germany is actually the number 1 flying nation in the world and will clearly surpass the strong overall result of the home world championships two years ago in Oberstdorf (four medals/two gold medals). Especially since there are three more gold chances after the mixed competition on Sunday evening in the second week of the World Championships.
“That was world champion. The boys ski jumped incredibly well with unbelievable mental strength,” enthused the otherwise reserved men’s national coach Andreas Horngacher, visibly touched: “Katharina Althaus and the girls helped us brutally. They hammered it through and the boys went with them. Now we have already exceeded our minimum target.« Only the Pole Piotr Żyła, who managed to successfully defend his title after the first round with a hill record in a crazy jump from place 13, prevented the total German triumph.
Nobody would have dared to dream of this seven weeks ago after one of the worst German tour results of all time. After the debacle, even head coach Horngacher, who had been so successful in the previous winters, came under massive pressure. »After the tour, we got quite lost. But Stef stayed calm – big praise to the trainers, they coached us superbly,” enthused Karl Geiger.
»We didn’t look to others to find out what they could do better, but instead asked ourselves: What do we need to do better? What is missing?” Andreas Wellinger added. In addition to the perfect jump form, the topic of the jump suit should have been an important piece of the puzzle. Horngacher had already put it on record before the World Championships that the German ski jumpers, at least at the start of the season, were too strict with the “material rules”. Other top nations jumped in larger suits, which significantly improved their wing in the air and thus their chances of success – and led to allegations of material fraud.
At the World Cup, Germany was again on a material level with the others – and could celebrate. Karl Geiger, king of the 2021 World Cup in his home town of Oberstdorf two years ago with a total of four medals, once again showed his incredible strength at major events. And Andreas Wellinger, who had already become a double Olympic champion and world champion at a young age, finally managed to return to the podium after five years of suffering with many injuries. »Incredibly cool, this medal is very important. I’ve been getting pissed off a lot over the past few years, but I’ve never given up.”
It was similar with the German women, who in 2021, in the year of the departure of successful coach Andreas Bauer, had lost contact with the world’s best as a team. With the new national coach Maximilian Mechler, a new start was made and the team spirit strengthened. ‘We all like each other. Each does what is best for them, but we are all there for each other. And from time to time we party together,” explained Anna Ruprecht, who won the team world championship title alongside Althaus, Selina Freitag and Luisa Görlich.
“We have a great team that supports each other,” added Althaus. This also applies to all sports: Immediately after their gold triumph, the ski jumpers rushed to the cross-country course and cheered on the combined athlete Julian Schmid on his way to individual silver. Incidentally, Althaus will marry the brother of the successful winter duel – Patrick Schmid – in April.
Team world champion Ruprecht also used the big world championship stage on this gold weekend to break a taboo. Like the alpine world star Mikaela Shiffrin at the World Cup, she addressed the topic of the menstrual cycle and menstrual pain in women’s sports. »We are such a sensitive sport. And if things aren’t going so well, you should also be able to say: ‘I’m on my period.'” The German coaching team around head coach Mechler is fortunately very open and “ultra cool” about this topic: “They say sometimes that we can go to bed with a hot water bottle.« Another piece of the jigsaw puzzle why Germany is number 1 in aviation – and why Katharina Althaus, with six world championship titles, is the most successful ski jumper of all time.
