The warm, humid weather really disrupted winter sports last weekend. Tobogganer Julia Taubitz defied the odds thanks to a clever trick, and Andreas Wellinger also celebrated in the constant rain in Willingen.
Water ski jumping in Willingen, melting ice in Altenberg and softened snow in Chamonix – the weather made it difficult for winter sports enthusiasts everywhere last weekend. But instead of complaining, some German athletes used the conditions to their advantage.
Intentional “mistakes”: Taubitz’s trick works
Thanks to two crazy comebacks in the Altenberg ice channel, Julia Taubitz and Max Langenhan each triumphed in the individual tobogganing. Taubitz, who raced to victory from 22nd place in the second race, had come up with a very special race plan for her home World Cup: deliberately driving poorly. “It was already the plan to be in the good midfield in the first run”Taubitz openly revealed in the sports show.
Background: The track in Altenberg suffered from the mild weather throughout the weekend, with the ice breaking down significantly in both runs. “I made a few small mistakes, which in the end were quite practical and put me in a better starting position.”explained the ripped-off Taubitz, but qualified: “It ended well for me, but overall it’s annoying for all of us.”
Langenhan apologizes for victory
Teammate Max Langenhan didn’t even want to be happy about his brilliant storm run (from 21st place to first place). “I was just lucky,” said the overall World Cup leader, who unintentionally drove into the barriers several times in the first round. “Such mistakes actually deserve a defeat. The fact that I hit a run like that and then the track drops like that is something you wouldn’t wish on any other athlete. I’m sorry about that too.”
In the team competition, there was no reason for Langenhan and Co. to apologize to the competition. Germany was the last team to leave the starting house, and the track no longer allowed top times at this point. In the end, the gap to surprise winner Latvia was a full 2.35 seconds. The USA and Romania completed what was probably a unique podium. The next home World Cup is taking place in Oberhof next weekend – in similarly suboptimal conditions.
Watery start-up and strong wind in Willingen
The jumping in Willingen, Hesse, which was actually intended to be the highlight of the season, was also washed out by incessant rain and gusty winds. Even though the atmosphere at the Mühlenkopf was rousing as usual with more than 20,000 fans, wind and weather were the big issues after the competitions.
In the first competition, no German jumper made it into the top 10, Karl Geiger, Philipp Raimund and Felix Hofmann didn’t even make it into the second round. “It was turbulent”Wellinger said 15th to the changing winds: “But that’s not an excuse because the jump was just bad.”
The start-up also made things more difficult. The trail was like a trickle, the jumpers complained in unison about the low approach speeds combined with strong headwinds. “I stalled for a moment on the run, I don’t know whether it was the track or myself. So I drove past the edge and didn’t have enough energy in the jump.”Wellinger explained by way of example.
FIS wind points are “difficult for us to understand”
The capricious weather in Willingen also sparked another discussion about wind compensation. According to the FIS rules, strong updrafts in the upper section are considered advantageous, which is why there are significant deductions for the athletes here. “Whether there is an updraft at the top or bottom makes little difference in the calculation, but in the distance it makes a difference of at least ten meters.”said Wellinger: “That’s difficult for us to understand.”
Wellinger and Schmid jump onto the podium
24 hours later, the tour runner-up’s anger had subsided again and Wellinger still found a successful approach to the adverse conditions. On Sunday (February 4th, 2024) he jumped from seventh place with a leap to 149 meters to win the day. Through the Willingen weekend, Wellinger reduced the gap to Stefan Kraft (1,129 points) in the overall standings to 178 points.
Katharina Schmid also presented herself in a similarly weatherproof manner at the same location. The seven-time world champion secured the bronze podium in Willingen after ninth place in the first round. “Extremely cool! I wouldn’t have thought that I would be able to start such a catch-up campaign.”
Yule writes history – Straßer annoyed
The Swiss Daniel Yule managed an even greater and historic comeback – favored by double-digit plus temperatures and super soft snow – in Chamonix, France. Yule drove to victory from 30th place, Linus Straßer suffered a setback after his victories in Kitzbühel and Schladming and finished 14th.
“It didn’t feel that bad, but the slope doesn’t allow it anymore,” The 31-year-old said afterwards: “I’ve been coming here for four years now – and every year it’s the same. Either you lead and reduce your time or you start the race first. In the middle it gets difficult. But that’s the competition.”
Combiners also struggle with “bad conditions”
The snow was just as slushy as in France for the Nordic combined athletes in Seefeld, Austria. “The conditions were really bad, so, so deep. You have to plan the race very, very carefully.”said Vinzenz Geiger, who was the fastest and fought his way through the ruts, some of which were 30 centimeters deep, and ran up to sixth place.
A few falls on the descent illustrated how difficult the condition of the track was – including top combiner Johannes Lamparter, who was not sparing in his criticism afterwards: “I don’t understand at all why you don’t put salt in it the night before. It’s not quite World Cup-worthy. (…) You have other options to prepare the slope perfectly, that wasn’t the case today.”