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Status: 02/28/2021 7:11 pm
Mixed team competition remains a German domain at world championships. Surprisingly, the DSV quartet won the gold medal against the top-rated teams from Norway and Austria.
Is a feeling? Maybe. Definitely a big surprise! Katharina Althaus (104.0 / 99.5 m), Markus Eisenbichler (100.0 / 98.5 m), Anna Rupprecht (92.5 / 98.5 m) and Karl Geiger (99.5 / 99.5 m ) continued the German series of successes in mixed team competition at the world championships in Oberstdorf. The quartet beat out previously top-rated teams from Norway and Austria, winning the first gold medal for DSV at the World Cup at home.
After eight jumps, Germany was 5.2 points ahead of Norway (Silje Opseth / Robert Johansson / Maren Lundby / Halvor Egner Granerud) and a total of 14.3 points ahead of Austria (Marita Kramer / Michael Hayböck / Daniela Iraschko -Stolz / Stefan Kraft).
Markus Eisenbichler: “It’s amazing!”
“I don’t even know what to say,” Katharina Althaus could barely comment on what happened after the flower ceremony at the empty ski jumping stadium. Markus Eisenbichler said, “After Katha’s first jump, I noticed that something might happen today.” He thanked the coaches for their confidence, “because normally they wouldn’t have prepared me today. I still can’t believe I’m on the world championship team. It’s amazing!” Karl Geiger’s individual silver medal took some of the pressure off the team.
Katharina Althaus lays the first stone
But let’s start at the beginning: it quickly became clear that there would be a four-way battle for the medals. Japan, which started as a bronze contender, was already too far behind after Yuki Ito’s first jump (75.0 m) to seriously intervene in the medal race. Among the Poles, for whom the individual world champion Piotr Zyla and his predecessor Dawid Kubacki competed, there is no woman who belongs to the absolute world class.
That left the top favorites Norway and Austria, as well as Slovenia and Germany. And the DSV quartet proved at home that they can always be expected at a world championship. The last three world championship titles in the mixed team went to DSV.
And as if that gave you wings, Katharina Althaus was the first jumper to start with a great jump of 104.0 meters. With that he sat ahead of Norway and Slovenia. Only Marita Kramer jumped further and initially took the lead for Austria.
Granerud and Kraft behind Karl Geiger
Karl Geiger in action.
Image: Daniel Karmann / dpa
As a result, Markus Eisenbichler (100.0m) and Anna Rupprecht (92.5m) showed solid to good jumps, kept the German mixed team in the race for medals and slowly but surely distanced the Slovenians, who previously had been at least as strong. Karl Geiger finally reached 99.5m when wind conditions deteriorated and even took the DSV to the lead after the first round. Neither Stefan Kraft nor Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud, who stood out this season, came close to Geiger’s width.
Four-way turns into a three-way battle for medals
Germany ahead of Norway (+ 4.9 points) and Austria (+ 15.6) – that was the state after four competitions. The highly traded Slovenians around individual world champion Ema Klinec were already far behind in fourth place. The four-way battle had turned into a three-way battle for gold, silver, and bronze after just four jumps.
Outstanding old house: “I’m so happy”
Katharina Althaus, tenth in the individual competition on the normal hill, confirmed her ascending form with her second jump at 99.5 m. Once again, its direct competitors could not make up ground or very little. “I am so happy to have been able to show two such strong jumps,” she said in the sports program and was already sure that it would be enough for a higher classification.
Rupprecht exceeds all expectations
Then Markus Eisenbichler (98.5m) weakened a bit. But when Anna Rupprecht outdid herself and showed a superior jump with a fantastic safe telemark landing at 98.5m, gold finally seemed within reach. Vice world champion Karl Geiger had to close the bag while leading. And he kept his nerves on his home hill, landing again at 99.5m and making the surprise hit perfect.
“The tactic worked perfectly,” said men’s national coach Stefan Horngacher. His colleague Andreas Bauer said: “I am very proud of the girls.” The women’s national coach said he was very relieved by the not so good results in the individual competition. “But we stayed relaxed and that was ultimately the key to success.”
Those: sportschau.de
