Alexander Schmid in Alta Badia, Italien © Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom/Getty Images
What a year for Alexander Schmid. With his gold medal in the parallel giant slalom in February, he secured his country’s first gold at an Alpine World Ski Championships in ten years (back then, a certain Maria Höfl-Riesch won in the Alpine combined). A medium sensation, Schmid had never won a World Cup before. But just a few days later, Schmid tore his cruciate ligament during training. A nine-month break followed. On his comeback in Val d’Isère he finished ninth.
Also Denise Herrmann-Wick 2023 will never be forgotten. First, she secured Germany’s only gold medal at the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof. She won the 7.5 kilometer sprint race by 2.2 seconds. In March she announced the end of her career – but not before winning her last World Cup race in the sprint a few days later and with it the overall World Cup. She was, of course, voted Germany’s Athlete of the Year 2023.
Who is stealing this basketball net? © Stringer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
It was the sports sensation of the year, at least from a German perspective: The Basketball Player became world champions. An outstanding team performance, smart guys (with even more likeable parents) and dramatic games like the one in the semifinals against the USA made basketball the hottest German sport in 2023.
Cedric Renner during the Skeleton World Championships © Robert Michael/dpa
Nowhere does it get much more German than the ice canals on the continent. Bobsledding, tobogganing, skeleton – always German domains. At the Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships in St. Moritz in January and February there were six German gold medals. They won Laura Nolte im Monobob, Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig in the two-man bobsleigh as well Johannes Lochner and George Fleischhauer and Francesco Friedrich, Thorsten Margis, Candy Bauer and Alexander Schüller in the four-man bobsleigh. Won on the skeleton sled Susan Kreher once individually and in a mixed team Christopher Grotheer.
Clear the way, mashed potatoes. Eleven of 13 possible gold medals at the World Championships in Oberhof were won by German lugers. There would be: Anna Berreiter in a single-seater, Felix Loch and Diana Eitberger each in a single-seater sprint. Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken secured gold in the doubles and sprint doubles, achieved the same Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal, who also won the U23 classification. And Timon Grancagnolo won this junior competition in the single-seater. This country doesn’t have to worry about the future of tobogganing either.
Preparations for the next round of the Archery World Cup in Berlin © Christoph Soeder/dpa
Sorry, you got the hang of it: the German women became archery world champions in Berlin in August. Michelle The body, Katharina Bauer and Charline Black won the recurve final against France 5:3.
Patrick Thomas is Germany’s fistball star. © Patrick Thomas/imago images
Also on the Germans Fistballer is reliable. This year they won their fourth consecutive World Cup title. On natural grass in the Mannheim SAP Arena, the men beat Austria with 4-0 sets in the final. The guys around the 1.99 meter tall Patrick Thomas were so dominant that they didn’t have to give up a set in the entire tournament.
Reception for the hockey world champions in Mülheim an der Ruhr © Martin Moeller/imago images
For the first time since 2006, the German men were again last year Hockey world champion. They made it particularly exciting at the World Cup in India. In the final against Belgium they turned around a 0-2 deficit, but conceded the equalizer shortly before the end. In the penalty shootout, goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg became the match winner.
Lukas Dauser during his gold exercise © Yves Herman/Reuters
Germany had to wait 16 years for a gymnastics world champion (at that time Fabian Hambüchen won), then came Lukas Dauser. Despite the extreme difficulty, he performed his parallel bars exercise at the World Championships in Antwerp close to perfection. After silver at the Olympics in Tokyo 2021, now World Cup gold. He was also named athlete of the year this year. Maybe it’s his lucky underpants.
Yes, yes, Japan will Florian Wellbrock like now. After his gold triumph in Tokyo 2021, he now won World Cup gold in open water swimming over five and ten kilometers in Fukuoka. Did the same thing Leonie Beck among women. It then had its own heart-stopping finale in December. Because she was a tenth of a second (!) ahead of her competitor Sharon van Rouwendaal after just under two hours after the last World Cup race over ten kilometers, she was able to secure the overall World Cup.
Even with an aid called a boat, things went quite well for some Germans on the water. Won at the Canoe World Championships in Duisburg Peter Kretschmer and Tim Hecker in the Canadian gold in the 500 meters. Max Rendschmidt, Max Lemke, Jacob Schopf and Tom Liebscher won in a kayak over the same distance. And Lena Röhlings and Jacob Schopf also won the 500 meters in mixed kayak. At the Whitewater World Championships in Augsburg they won again Standards Weber, Janosch Suelzer and Andreas Heilinger Gold in Canadian.
Katharina Althaus at work © Borut Zivulovic/Reuters
This year was Katharina Althaus the best ski jumper of all time. At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica she won the normal hill jumping together with her colleagues Anna Rupprecht, Luisa Gorlich and Selina Friday team jumping. This season, however, you will look in vain for Katharina Althaus in the result lists. She got married and is now starting out as Katharina Schmid.
At the World Shooting Championships in Baku there were at least three German gold medals. Christian Reitz won in the individual with the rapid fire pistol from 25 meters and in the team Florian Peter and Oliver Geis. The women got it Doreen Vennekamp Gold with the sports pistol from 25 meters.
Germany’s U17 captain Paris Brunner and his colleagues © Achmad Ibrahim/dpa
And then there were two big junior tournaments that caused a lot of fun: in July U-21 handball player World champion in Berlin. In the final they clearly won against Hungary 30:23. Goalkeeper David Späth particularly stood out. Five months later they were U-17 footballer World champion in Indonesia. They won the final against France 4-3 on penalties.
What a year for Alexander Schmid. With his gold medal in the parallel giant slalom in February, he secured his country’s first gold at an Alpine World Ski Championships in ten years (back then, a certain Maria Höfl-Riesch won in the Alpine combined). A medium sensation, Schmid had never won a World Cup before. But just a few days later, Schmid tore his cruciate ligament during training. A nine-month break followed. On his comeback in Val d’Isère he finished ninth.
Also Denise Herrmann-Wick 2023 will never be forgotten. First, she secured Germany’s only gold medal at the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof. She won the 7.5 kilometer sprint race by 2.2 seconds. In March she announced the end of her career – but not before winning her last World Cup race in the sprint a few days later and with it the overall World Cup. She was, of course, voted Germany’s Athlete of the Year 2023.
