After tough years and bumpy preparation, the German ski jumpers and biathletes are starting the winter with a fabulous start. This was not to be expected and gives winter sports fans hope for further success.
Romas Rees in yellow, a double podium for the biathletes and the ski jumpers also got three podium places in one weekend – from a German perspective, the start of the World Cup could hardly have gone better. Before the season, there were strong doubts about the performance, especially in the two major winter sports disciplines. But within a few hours on Sunday in Östersund and Ruka, the big question marks quickly turned into exclamation points.
“It’s incredible”, Rees tried to put his first World Cup victory into words. The 30-year-old from Freiburg celebrated a double triumph in the singles that was not thought possible together with second-placed Justus Strelow. The German women, for the first time without the resigned Denise Herrmann-Wick, had previously presented Franziska Preuß (2nd place) and Vanessa Voigt (3rd) no less surprisingly.
For the first time since 2015: Biathlon team celebrates dream Sunday
The last time there were four German podium finishes in one day was in December 2015 in Hochfilzen. At that time, Franziska Hildebrand, Maren Hammerschmidt and Miriam Gössner celebrated a triple success, and Simon Schempp also won the men’s sprint.
Such an explosion in performance was by no means to be expected on Sunday; the preparation had been too bumpy. At the beginning of November, the DSV athletes from Norway were mercilessly shown their limits on their home track in Sjusjöen. Biathlon icon Ole-Einar Björndalen then mocked: “It looked ridiculous and it was terrible to see.”
Lesser asks Björndalen: “Where are the Norwegians?”
But on Sunday Germany suddenly found itself at the top. “If Norwegians are allowed to celebrate their festivals, then we can celebrate them too now”said ARD biathlon expert Erik Lesser in relation to Björndalen’s taunts: “We missed something, the Norwegians are so strong. Where are they?” Superstar Johannes Thingnes Bö had to admit defeat with third place, otherwise only Endre Strömsheim made it into the top 10 for the Scandinavians, who are used to success.
Dream start: Rees wants to “set a new goal”
As great as the joy was about Östersund’s huge success, those involved knew more clearly what had been achieved. Men’s head coach Uros Velepec promised the German team “For the yellow jersey, a beer and a cake for everyone“. Meanwhile, Roman Rees wants to celebrate his first World Cup victory at the age of 30.”set a new goal”.
Rees will be the first German to present his yellow jersey in 15 years (Michael Greis in December 2008) during the sprint at the same location on Saturday. Defending the prestige shirt will be extremely difficult. It gives you courage “very, very neat” Mileage performance of the German team, as Lesser believes. A total of nine out of twelve DSV athletes finished in the top 20 in the individual competition.
Fast German skis despite the fluorine ban
The performance of the DSV technicians, who were able to defy the new fluorine wax ban, was also crucial. Benedikt Doll and Franziska Preuß expressly thanked the sports show microphone for their fast skis. For sensational winner Rees came on Sunday “It’s just a lot together: material, looseness, good shooting, form on the day, competition played a part.”
Ski jumpers are also surprisingly strong
The German ski jumpers missed out on a World Cup success on the first weekend of winter, but the mood in the team around national coach Stefan Horngacher was very relaxed on Sunday. “Our boys jumped very well again today. It’s a great result and a great start to the World Cup for us.”
On Friday Andreas Wellinger won the qualification, on Saturday only the outstanding Stefan Kraft (Austria) prevented the first all-German podium since 1990. Pius Paschke celebrated the first podium finish of his career in second place at the age of 33, ahead of Stephan Leyhe and Andreas Wellinger.
The latter then rewarded himself for his strong weekend with third place on Sunday. In both competitions, all six DSV Adler came into the top 20 and confirmed national coach Horngacher and the squad nomination for the World Cup.
Karl Geiger also got back to his old top form and was very satisfied with ninth place in the second competition. He spoke of a great relief that surrounded the jumpers, like the biathletes, after a mixed winter.
From uncertainty to “very cool feeling”
“It was a load off our hearts because we didn’t know exactly where we stood”said Geiger: “The fact that we can fight as a team in such a compact and united manner is a very cool feeling.”
Geiger could still remember the bumpy start to the season last year, “We ran after it.” At that time, there was only a third place for Geiger to celebrate before the Four Hills Tournament. “It feels much more relaxed now”the Oberstdorfer explained beamingly: “You can work with that.”