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The old mixed team world champion is the new one: Germany wins its first gold medal at the Nordic World Ski Championships! The competition was very tense until the last jump, and there are still two series.
It wasn’t so loud at this extraordinary Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf, because when the scoreboard showed the redeeming result, there was no stopping it – the German ski jumping quartet of Katharina Althaus, Markus Eisenbichler, Anna Rupprecht and Karl Geiger they contributed sensational gold to the mixed team! The DSV team collected 1000.8 points, 5.2 more than the Norwegian silver medalists (Silje Opseth, Robert Johansson, Maren Lundby and Halvor Egner Granerud), who collected 995.6 points. The bronze went to the Austrian team made up of Marita Kramer, Michael Hayböck, Daniela Iraschko-Stolz and Stefan Kraft with 986.5 points, which was 14.3 points behind Germany and 9.1 behind Norway.
“That feels amazing! I never thought before that we would win today. It was just a great day. I woke up this morning feeling like I was in good shape. Especially our women jumped incredibly well today, Karl did a great job too. My first jump was good too, the second was a bit late. I am very happy that we are once again mixed world champions. Before the competition, I wouldn’t have even thought of a medal, more like a fourth or fifth place, “said Markus Eisenbichler, commenting on the unexpected success and shortly after, unusually for him, he stuttered:” Thank you … thank you very much to the team made it possible. It’s cool yeah! “
Above all, starting jumper Katharina Althaus made a prominent appearance in the fourth German Ski Jumper World Mixed Championship title: with her first 104-meter jump, the Oberstdorf native laid the foundation for subsequent success. Eisenbichler, who jumped into the second group, was able to pressure the competition in both rounds and even increase the lead. Anna Rupprecht climbed after 92.5 meters in the first jump to 98.5 meters in the second and gave final jumper Karl Geiger a significant lead along the way, which the individual silver medalist nervously defended.
DSV and ÖSV continue mixed series
This strong nerve was also essential, after all, the advantage over the strong competition never exceeded 12.3 points (a little more than six meters). In the third group of the first round, Maren Lundby put her team in the leading position, which, however, should return to Germany at the end of the first round. Silje Opseth and Robert Johansson were able to keep up with Althaus and Eisenbichler in their groups, but they never achieved significant ground. Final jumper Halvor Egner Granerud had the most unfavorable conditions in the first round, but, like the day before, he struggled with his jumps.
The women who were proclaimed world team champions on Friday also convinced the Austrian team. Marita Kramer won both rounds in group one and even set the maximum distance for all jumps with 105.5 meters in the first jump, despite the fact that coach Harald Rodlauer had even shortened by a gate. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz was third and second in her group, while Michael Hayböck and Stefan Kraft lost ground again in both rounds. However, a joint series by ÖSV and DSV continued: both associations took the podium in the five mixed team competitions of the World Championship.
Slovenia’s bitter mixed triplet
For the Slovenian team, also negotiated as a candidate for the medal, finally only the ungrateful fourth place was left, and that for the third time in a row in a world championship. Nika Kriznar, Bor Pavlovcic, Ema Klinec and Anze Lanisek couldn’t change the fact that Slovenia never made it to the podium on a mixed basis. The sticking point was above all the first mixed jump of the individual world champion Klinec, who only reached 90.5 meters. Already at this point the deficit on the podium was almost 40 points, the team jumped after this from then on, although Lanisek managed to make up points with 104.5 meters in the second jump.
This also ensured that Japan (Yuki Ito, Yukiya Sato, Sara Takanashi and Ryoyu Kobayashi), who had come close to 4.8 points before the last jump, did not pass. As in Seefeld two years ago, the quartet only finished fifth after Ito failed to jump to the 75 meters, which at the time was only ninth and thus the end of all medal dreams. Sato and Takanashi were convincing in their groups, while Kobayashi showed decent and mixed jumping.
Poland is fine
Poland landed in sixth place (Anna Twardosz, Piotr Zyla, Kamila Karpiel and Dawid Kubacki), which only featured a mixed team in a World Cup for the second time. The two women, who are not among the best in the world, did well, while individual world champion Zyla was possibly a bit lacking in freshness. The last jump Kubacki underlined his reputation as a normal hill specialist, especially with his second jump of 103 meters, and thus ensured that Poland could postpone their result in Seefeld in 2019.
»Re-LIVE: this was the mixed team competition at the World Championship in Oberstdorf
The victim was the Russian Ski Federation, which had to settle for seventh place. Irina Avvakumova, Danil Sadreev, Irma Makhinia and Evgeniy Klimov were 32.2 points behind Poland. Mainly because Klimov just couldn’t keep up with Kubacki. However, there was a historic result for the Czech Republic (Karolina Indrackova, Viktor Polasek, Klara Ulrichova and Cestmir Kozisek), who reached the final as eighth for the first time in a mixed World Championship team, even though they were with Solo Ulrichova, 16, is the youngest participant in the field.
The best results of the World Cup also among those eliminated
With twelve teams entered, four had to be eliminated, but even among them the best World Cup results were historically reported. The Finnish team (Jenny Rautionaho, Eetu Nousiainen, Julia Kykkänen and Niko Kytösaho) had to do without Antti Aalto on short notice and still finished ninth. Canada (Abigail Strate, Matthew Soukup, Alexandria Loutitt and Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes) were only here for the second time after Lahti 2017, where it was only enough for 12th place, and it was 10th.
Romania (Andreea Diana Trambitas, Nicolae Sorin Mitrofan, Daniela Haralambie, Daniel Andrei Cacina) continued their own streak: the host country of the World Cup dress rehearsal in Rasnov was penultimate for the third time in their third participation, but has the best result with eleventh place you can post. Only the United States (Paige Jones, Casey Larson, Annika Belshaw and Decker Dean), which finished twelfth and therefore last, failed to post a new top result.
Starting tomorrow Monday, the World Cup will take place in Oberstdorf on the big hill (HS 137). The women contest the official training (three rounds) on Monday afternoon from 5:00 p.m., after which the coaches have to announce their nominations. On Tuesday at 4:30 pm, the test jump before qualifying begins, which follows at 6 pm (all live on skispringen.com).
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