Tops:
Eva Pinkelnig: The Vorarlberg native, who really jumped into the limelight this season with six victories and 17 World Cup podium places, cheered loudly about silver in the normal hill individual and with the women’s team. It was fourth in the mixed, on the large hill the World Cup leader had to make do with sixth place. Some of the reasons for this were unspecified discrepancies before the final competition, which caused Pinkelnig to hastily leave at night and left a few question marks.
Johannes Lamparter: The Tyrolean Combined missed the desired title defense. However, the 21-year-old was again very successful with bronze in the large hill individual and two further third places with the team and in mixed.
Mixed results after the World Cup in Planica
The Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica ended with mixed results for Austria. Seven silver and bronze medals face no gold medal. The ski jumpers in particular fell short of expectations.
Newcomer: A few youngsters, unimpressed by the big World Cup stage, provided highlights. Internationally, above all Alexandria Loutitt. The 19-year-old Canadian ski jumper did what Johannes Lamparter did in 2021 by following up World Junior Championships gold with the World Championships large hill title. Two World Cup debutants showed up in the ÖSV camp. The 18-year-old ski jumper Julia Mühlbacher excelled both on the hill and in interviews with her carefree manner and left with team silver. The 21-year-old combined athlete Stefan Rettenegger won mixed and team bronze as well as seventh and fifth place in the individual.
Nordic combination: The discipline, which is fighting for its Olympic future, advertised itself with exciting decisions. In addition, in the second women’s decision in World Cup history, the medals went to three countries, in 2021 in Oberstdorf there was a Norwegian triple victory. The number of participating nations with only eight teams in mixed as a minus point remains urgently expandable.
Norway: For the 13th time in a row, first place in the World Championship medal table went to the Norwegians. Led by their cross-country skiing stars Johannes Hösflot Kläbo, Paal Golberg and Simen Hegstad Krüger as well as combination king Jarl Magnus Riiber and ski jumper Maren Lundby, Norge again scooped big. Overall, the Norwegian team snagged 27 medals, 12 of which were gold.
Earl Magnus Riiber: At the end of January in Seefeld, the Norwegian left the Nordic combined stage as a loser because he was ill. From then on, the 25-year-old renounced the World Cup title defense by getting back in shape in an intensive preparation for the World Cup. The Norsker managed that with pinpoint accuracy, doubling his haul of World Cup gold medals from four to eight. This makes Riiber the most successful combined athlete in World Cup history.
Catherine Althaus: In the overall World Cup, currently second clearly behind Eva Pinkelnig, the German was clearly the best among the ski jumpers with three gold medals and one bronze medal. After her triumph on the normal hill, the 26-year-old also hit the strong DSV team with the women’s team and in mixed, followed by bronze on the large hill. Their compatriots Andreas Wellinger and Karl Geiger were also convincing with silver and bronze from the small Bakken.
Sweden’s cross-country skiers, Norway’s cross-country skiers: Ebba Andersson, Jonna Sundling and Co. won three of the four individual races and the team sprint. Only relay gold remained for their Norwegian archrivals. On the other hand, the Norwegians were overwhelmingly superior to the men. Kläbo, Krüger and colleagues clawed all six titles and several other medals. In the skiathlon and over 15 km they even celebrated quadruple victories, in the final 50 km race with Golberg before Kläbo a double success.
Organisation: The organizers of the first World Championships on Slovenian soil staged the title fights almost without a hitch. The ban on spectators’ cars away from the World Cup facilities made the fans’ journey to the event a little more strenuous, but ensured that the athletes, officials and other participants had no problems arriving and departing. With a few exceptions, the hundreds of volunteers completed their tasks brilliantly. One of the few discords was caused by the lack of preparation on the hill in the mixed combined event. Another flaw is the high price of the tickets, which kept many fans away and will probably leave a hole in the budget.
Austrian coach exports: Austrian coach exports are responsible for two of the four individual titles in ski jumping. The only 33-year-old Thomas Thurnbichler celebrated Piotr Zyla’s successful normal hill title defense in his first season as head coach of the Poles, Carinthian Janko Zwitter celebrated the large hill gold with the only 19-year-old Canadian Alexandria Loutitt. Stefan Horngacher also had a very good record as coach of the German men with silver and bronze on the normal hill and mixed gold. Tyrolean Alexander Stöckl took team and mixed silver with Norway’s men.
Flops:
ÖSV ski jumpers: The dethroned large hill world champion Stefan Kraft and Co. only saved an impending zero number at the last moment with team bronze. In the individual competitions, Kraft was the best in the ÖSV, as was usually the case, but was unsuccessful in fourth and sixth place. Even in the mixed competition, only “Blech” remained.
Fan scenery: At only 60,000, the number of spectators at the venue, which is spoiled by the crowds of ski flying fans, remained miles below the original 150,000 expectations until Sunday. Probably mainly due to the high ticket prices and the difficult accommodation situation in the immediate vicinity, many places in the cross-country and especially in the ski jumping stadium were unoccupied. In some ski jumping competitions there was even a gaping emptiness in the grandstand. Improvement began on the final weekend, when significantly more fans came, attracted by Slovenian successes. The high was 9,300 on the penultimate day.
Finland and Switzerland: The former cross-country skiing and ski jumping superpower Finland only managed to win a silver medal. Switzerland’s times of success are also over, in Planica it even set a zero number for the Swiss.
Ski Jumping Jury: A number of decisions by those responsible caused resentment among athletes who felt disadvantaged and also among officials. Unnecessary and too fast hatch changes and breaks due to changing conditions at the wrong time were criticized.
Halvor Egner Granerud: The Norwegian traveled to Planica as a ten-time winner of the season and World Cup leader, but then fell far short of expectations in the individual events, finishing eleventh and seventh. At least he kept himself a little harmless with the silver medals in the team and with the mixed team.