New competition in ski jumping
DSV duo flies to the podium at Super Team premiere
01/14/2023 2:32 p.m
Twelve teams are there when the ski jumpers jump for victory in a super team for the first time. The debut success goes to Austria, the German duo takes third place. The new format is intended to offer smaller countries new opportunities in the World Cup.
The ski jumpers Katharina Althaus and Selina Freitag flew onto the podium in the first Super Team competition in World Cup history. The DSV duo collected 581.8 points in six jumps in Zao, Japan, and took third place. The victory went to Austria with World Cup leader Eva Pinkelnig and Chiara Kreuzer (624.6) ahead of Norway (589.3).
In the new format, which will also be tested for men on February 11, two athletes from each nation form a team. The Olympic runners-up Althaus and Freitag were already in third place after the first and second round and fended off Canada’s attack (580.5) in the end. Their top jumper Alexandria Loutitt had caused a stir the day before: The 19-year-old, who had never been on the podium before, was the first Canadian in history to win a World Cup. The last Canadian victory for men was in 1983 with Horst Bulau.
Freitag, fourth in the individual on Friday, impressed with jumps of 92.0, 85.0 and 91.5 meters, as did Althaus with 82.5, 95.0 and 93.0 meters. But that wasn’t enough compared to Austria and Norway’s Anna Odine Ström and Thea Minyan Björseth.
The new duo competition is primarily intended to accommodate smaller nations that cannot provide a classic four-person team. After all, twelve countries were at the start, four more than in the last team competition in February 2022, including China (10th), Romania (11th) and the USA (12th). However, not everyone is convinced of the new format. “I think it’s worth a try – but I’m still a bit skeptical, I’ll be honest,” said Karl Geiger, who came third in the Olympics, on the “Ski happens” podcast at the start of the season: “I’m not sure if really always have the very best people at the start.” At least that was the case for women.