Ski jumper Karl Geiger won bronze on the normal hill and gold with the mixed team at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica. In his column for sport.de, the DSV-Adler looks back on the World Cup with satisfaction.
With my wife Franzi and my daughter Luisa I walk again on Sunday on a path in the valley of the hills, which will see no more competitions – all the stadiums are empty, all the jumps have been jumped. Only the cross-country skiers have crowned their king over 50 kilometers.
I am very satisfied with the course of the competitions at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica, Slovenia; This also against the background of the entire course of the season, during which all Germans have repeatedly struggled.
As a family, we let the days of Planica come to an end over lunch and draw a very positive balance:
In the preparations for the Slovenian days we worked very well as a team and as a reward the ski jumping men were able to collect three medals for themselves: silver and bronze for Andreas Wellinger and myself from the normal hill as well as the title in the mixed team together with the outstanding one Catherine Althaus.
Of course we were totally focused on the team competition on the large hill and we really wanted to be world champions, but the other nations acted well and we actually only finished fifth in an exciting pentathlon, although we put in solid performances. The world’s best are close together and sometimes nuances decide who gets which medals or who even stands next to the podium.
But sometimes you just get to a point where you have to appreciate the achievements of others, without “ifs and buts”. In any case, we were able to walk upright and congratulate the medal winners, albeit in the knowledge that next time we want to be at the top again and hopefully we will be.
And again: after the course of the season so far, it wouldn’t have come as a surprise if the German men hadn’t gotten a medal at a world championship. We have been able to avert this through hard work!
The World Cup is over and the focus is once again on the events to come. After arriving in Oberstdorf and unpacking at home, the preparations for our next trip begin immediately.
The program now includes the Raw Air Tour in Norway, with demanding hills in Oslo, Lillehammer and Vikersund, two competitions each per location – a Norwegian Three Hills Tournament with an audience that is at least as enthusiastic as the Four Hills Tournament. I’m really looking forward to this series of competitions and, motivated by the results in Planica, I’ll do everything I can to collect World Cup points in order to climb further up the overall rankings.
With kind regards
Karl Geiger