World Championship, ski jumping – large hill, women, 2nd round. Katharina Althaus from Germany celebrates her third place
Image: dpa
Katharina Althaus continues to diligently collect medals. The 26-year-old characterizes the World Championships in Planica – even if she misses a special World Championship feat.
Katharina Althaus won her fourth medal at the World Championships in Planica, missing a record by just two places. The 26-year-old celebrated bronze on the large hill in Slovenia on Wednesday. Althaus was only beaten by the surprise Canadian winner Alexandria Loutitt and Maren Lundby from Norway. For the girl from Oberstdorf it was the ninth World Cup medal of her career. With gold, she would have been the first ski jumper to win four titles at a World Championships.
Cheered on by the fan club that had traveled from the Allgäu with a large banner, Althaus jumped 120.5 and 128 meters in front of a picturesque winter backdrop in the valley of the hills and once again showed her class. She is in the form of her life. After her first Planica title in the individual on the normal hill, Althaus had already said that further successes would be an “encore”. She probably hadn’t expected so many of them. Four competitions, three times gold and one bronze: more is almost impossible. The always open and usually happy Allgäuerin is the face of this World Cup.
The local sportswoman and fighter for equal rights in ski jumping had traveled to Slovenia as a promising medal candidate. She has already won the World Cup six times this winter. The top favorite, however, was the Austrian overall leader Eva Pinkelnig. However, Althaus jumped into a frenzy, even if she was denied the very big coronation at the end. The individual success was followed by the euphorically celebrated titles in the team with Selina Freitag, Anna Rupprecht and Luisa Görlich and in the mixed team with Andreas Wellinger, Karl Geiger and Freitag.
Althaus brought the German Ski Association (DSV) their tenth precious metal in these title fights. The home World Cup in Oberstdorf 2021 has long since been topped. In front of around 1,500 spectators in a light snowfall, Selina Freitag took 19th place as second best from the team of national coach Maximilian Mechler. Pauline Hessler finished 26th.
