PLANICA (VG) Norway led after the first half, but Germany won the mixed gold in team jumping for the fifth World Cup in a row. With historically strong style.
The German triple winner Katharina Althaus was awarded a style grade of 19.5 from two of the judges when she helped secure the gold for the showjumping superpower in Sunday’s competition on the normal hill in Planica.
– A fantastic jump. It’s not the first time I’ve seen Althaus, and other girls, jump very well, but I’m very happy on behalf of the girls that it’s judged like that, says Norway’s head of jumping Clas Brede Bråthen – who was also happy with Norway’s silver.
Althaus’ two times 19.5 comes after the style debate has raged around the ski jumping hill in Planica. First, Bråthen came out harshly against the judges after the women’s individual competition and “fundamentally disagreed with how the girls are judged in relation to the boys”.
Then the Norwegian head judge Ole Walseth came on the field and thought that none of the women currently jumps to 20 in style and defended the judging.
VG’s review of the entire jumping season showed that no higher than 19 in style had been awarded to a woman before the team competition on Sunday.
Anna Odine Strøm – who soared Norway to silver together with Johann André Forfang, Thea Minyan Bjørseth and Halvor Egner Granerud – praises her German competitor:
– She deserves at least 19.5. It’s good that she has set the standard, so we can eventually get there too. You just have to keep trying, says Strøm to VG.
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– All credit to the Norwegian judge who gives 19.5 and the most credit to Katharina, says Bråthen.
– There has been a bit of an uproar after you went out and criticized the judges, how have you experienced the days that have passed?
– I haven’t thought too much about the fact that there has been a “rabble”. I’m just a guy who speaks my mind and has some thoughts about how we should behave in order to improve as a sport, replies the showjumping manager.
The chairman of the refereeing committee, Ole Walseth, sends the following message to VG on Sunday evening:
– It’s funny that the judges were shown today that the girls can also get good style points. Althaus with 2 x 19.5 and thus the highest judging grade in the competition.
Bråthen not only sees the style grade of 19.5 as a victory, but also the Norwegian on the silver.
– It means a lot, and we are proud to take silver in the mixed. It’s a great day for show jumping and Norwegian show jumping, says Bråthen.
Before the final jump, Norway’s anchorman Granerud had to get on and off the boom three times before he had to set out. There were nerves for the coaches, in the various commentators’ boxes, on the field with the team-mates and perhaps the stomach of the main character tingled.
But he kept his nerves in check and delivered a huge jump, but a good jump by Andreas Wellinger ensured Germany could celebrate gold – a margin of 12.7 points.
Home nation Slovenia took the bronze.
– It is big. We take silver, and are very, very happy with it, says men’s national team coach Alexander Stöckl to VG.
The mixed competition has offered mixed feelings for Norway since the exercise appeared on the WC program in the 2013 WC.
Bronze in 2019, silver in 2015 and 2021, while in the Beijing Olympics in 2022, Norway had no chance of a medal when both Anna Odine Strøm and Silje Opseth were disqualified after a check of the jumping suit.
The medal is a big improvement in the ski jumping seen from Norwegian eyes. Strøm did indeed take a bronze medal in the individual normal hill race, and there was bronze in the women’s team competition.
But there was a big Norwegian slump on the men’s side on Saturday when Halvor Egner Granerud became Norway’s best in the normal slope – in eleventh place.
See Granerud’s final jump:
