DGermany’s best ski jumper Katharina Althaus is ready for the challenge of ski flying. The 26-year-old woman from the Allgäu won the World Cup in Lillehammer on Wednesday after jumps of 131.5 and 125.5 meters and thus decided the dress rehearsal for the first flight competition in women’s history on Sunday (10 a.m. / ARD and Eurosport) in Vikersund.
The long-distance hunt with flights that can go over 200 meters is of enormous importance for the jumpers around Althaus. “Dream” or “milestone” – these words keep coming up when the athletes or their coaches talk about the spectacular event. “Ski flying is the greatest thing you can do in ski jumping. We’ve waited so long now,” said Althaus, who had won three gold medals at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica, Slovenia, to the German Press Agency (dpa). The debut in the supreme discipline is the next logical development step on the way to sporting equality.
In Lillehammer, Althaus achieved her seventh win of the season. “I actually always jump really well here. The landscape here has something magical about it,” she said on ARD. In addition to Althaus, Canadian world champion Alexandria Loutitt and Austria’s Eva Pinkelnig, already the overall World Cup winner, completed the podium. Selina Freitag also presented herself strongly in fourth place.
The competition was massively affected by the adverse wind conditions. The start was actually scheduled for 4.30 p.m., after being postponed three times, the jumping began at 6 p.m. Shortly before the end of the second round, Eirin Maria Kvandal fell. But the Norwegian apparently got off lightly and greeted the spectators again in a friendly manner in the outrun.
By winning her favorite hill, Althaus also increased her chances of winning the Raw Air Tour. There she is in second place in the overall ranking with 1424.1 points, just behind the leading Slovenian Ema Klinec (1444.9). Selina Freitag is in third place with 1406.1 points. The winner of the Raw Air Tour receives prize money of 40,000 euros, and places two (15,000) and three (5000) are also honored. The decision will be made on Sunday in Vikersund – at ski flying.
