On Tuesday (February 21st, 2023) the world championships for ski jumping, cross-country skiing and Nordic combined will start in Planica. The DSV has now awarded almost all places for this.
The German Ski Association (DSV) travels to Planica, Slovenia, with a squad of 34, where the Nordic World Ski Championships will take place from February 21st to March 5th. In ski jumping, the hopes for a medal rest, among others, on Katharina Althaus from Oberstdorf and Andreas Wellinger from Ruhpolding.
Ski jumping: last place is jumped out in Rasnov
A total of five female and five male jumpers have been nominated, with the men’s national coach Stefan Horngacher awarding the last place only after the upcoming World Cup weekend in Rasnov, Romania. In addition to Wellinger, Markus Eisenbichler, Karl Geiger and Philipp Raimund are sure to be at the World Cup.
“The goal at this world championship is to win medals. We’re not among the favorites this time, but we have a clear upward trend and have come much closer to the top of the world“, explained Horngacher. His current top jumper Andreas Wellinger is already hot for the World Championships: “The Slovenes are a very ski jumping people. That’s why I’m looking forward to the World Cup. That will certainly be a cool backdrop in the mountain panorama.“
Women’s head coach Maximilian Mechler is also counting on top placements after the recent performances: “Selina Freitag has achieved her first podium place and Katharina Althaus already has five victories. At the moment everyone is on target and we are looking forward to fighting for medals at the World Championships. Katharina Althaus is in very good shape. If she’s having a good day, she can win.“
| Women | Catherine Althaus (SC Oberstdorf) |
| Men | Markus Eisenbichler (TSV Siegsdorf) |
NoKo: Geiger wants to fight for medals again
In Nordic Combined, Nathalie Armbruster and Julian Schmid lead the ten-man squad. Olympic champion Vinzenz Geiger also wants to have a say in the awarding of medals: “I’m almost back to 100% health. I’m able to train well again and I’m confident that I’ll be at 100 percent for the World Cup. When I’m fit, I can fight for medals in Planica. That’s why my first goal is to be in top form at the start.“
Svenja Würth, who only switched from the special jumpers to the combination three years ago, also sees herself well prepared: “From the first to the last competition, I managed to always increase my best World Cup result. I started in 15th place and have now been in the top ten. I am very satisfied with that. The trend is in the right direction.” The team also familiarized themselves very well with the facilities in Planica in advance. “I know the ski jump and course in Planica pretty well. We’ve been there a number of times for training and have done test competitions on the track in winter. Nothing unexpected is coming our way“, Würth continues.
| Women | Nathalie Armbruster (SZ Kniebis) |
| Men | Manuel Faiss (SV Baiersbronn) |
Cross-country skiing: Carl and Hennig now the hunted?
The largest group within the DSV is the cross-country skiing team, which will be represented in Planica with 14 athletes. After gold and silver at the Olympic Games in Beijing, women in particular are expected to do quite a bit, despite the usual Scandinavian dominance. In the classic races, Katharina Hennig is now one of the world leaders after her first World Cup victory and there are also good chances in the team competitions. “We have shown that we have made a significant step forward, especially in the women’s division: we have managed to place on the podium“, explained cross-country sports director Andreas Schlütter.
After the hardships of the Tour de Ski and a somewhat longer recovery phase afterwards, Hennig is now highly motivated again: “The current season is definitely my best season so far – but also the craziest. Despite Corona, I started the winter better than ever. I’m super happy with three individual podium finishes so far. I would like to take this positive feeling with me to the World Cup as motivation and enjoy it.”
National coach Peter Schlickenrieder is putting the brakes on expectations a bit despite the good conditions: “With a total of nine women, the seven qualified athletes from the World Cup and the two U-23 runners, we have a really big and strong women’s team at the start. This is the best starting point one can have. We are glad that Katharina is now healthy again. But after her absences due to illness, we shouldn’t expect miracles from her.“For men, he sees Friedrich Moch as currently the strongest DSV runner:”The upheaval in the men’s area just needs a certain amount of time before we hope to be in areas similar to the women’s in a while.“
| Women | Victoria Carl (SC Motor Zella-Mehlis) |
| Men | Lucas Bögl (SC Gaissach) |