HAfter her big dream faded into thin air for a while, Katharina Althaus briefly shrugged her shoulders and then honestly congratulated the new world record holder Ema Klinec on her historic triumph. On a memorable day for women’s ski jumping, the world record holder was overcome with disappointment – also because she simply did not hit the magic mark.
“I wish I had a 200er with me,” Althaus said, visibly depressed, after the women’s ski flight premiere in Vikersund, Norway. On the Monsterbakken, a woman from Oberstdorf flew 194.0 and 190.0 meters. The missed distance of 200 meters hurt even more than the ungrateful fourth place.
Probably also because Althaus was so close in training – she was only a meter and a half away from her. She glanced forward quickly again. “I definitely have to keep going, 200 is a childhood dream that I still want to achieve. I will put everything into this,” Althaus said and still found positive words: “It was nice to make history here.”
In fact, a turning point was initiated in Vikersund. Despite all the fears about falls and possible devastating consequences, the weekend was a success. And even if it’s not yet clear whether women will be able to fly next winter – after Vikersund’s experience, Althaus, in all likelihood, can continue to harbor legitimate hopes that her dream will come true.
However, the first major role belonged to Klinets. The Slovenian beat her rivals and, with her first flight, improved the world record set by Canada’s Alexandria Lutitt in practice on Saturday by four meters to 226.0 meters. In the second round, Klinets added 223.5 meters to secure the win, beating Norway’s Silje Opset and Japan’s Yuki Ito by 41 points.
Klinec also took first place and €40,000 in prize money in the overall rankings of the ten-day Raw Air Tour. Althaus received €15,000 as a runner-up.
Apart from Althaus, Selina Freitag also had a good performance on Sunday at an exclusive event with just 15 jumpers. The 21-year-old finished tenth after jumping 188.0 and 170.5 meters and successfully defended her third place overall on Raw Air. Anna Ruprecht, who showed some self-doubt in training, showed a significant improvement in the first round with a score of 173.0 meters and finished 14th.
Source: Frantfurter Allgemeine
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