A kneeling as a tribute. Stefan Horngacher, impressed and moved by the emotions and feelings, did not miss the opportunity to go into the snow in front of his team at the end of a breathtaking ski jump. What a day in the valley of the ski jumps, what a yield for the team of the German Ski Association (DSV).

Ralf Weitbrecht

Sports editor.

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After four days of competition, the 34-strong sports crew is already in a better sporting position than at the home World Championships two years ago in Oberstdorf. Planica 2023 – the Nordic World Ski Championships have been excellent for Team D so far. This is also and above all due to the ski jumping men and women.

National coach Horngacher found it simply "unbelievable how mentally strong the boys were. We had set our sights on a medal, which would be realistic if we slipped through like this. But the fact that there are now two – simply unbelievable." Andreas Wellinger second on the normal hill, Karl Geiger third: At the beginning of the year, when the German eagles had not even made it into the top ten at the Four Hills Tournament, pessimists had already outlined a gloomy World Championship scenario.

"We've pretty much started swimming," said Horngacher self-critically in Planica. He knew "that we had to keep the shop together". In fact, the Austrian head coach stayed the course, kept calm – and suddenly the confidence was back. The move to be the only leading ski jumping nation to start at the World Championships dress rehearsal in the Romanian town of Rasnov proved to be a door opener. Wellinger won there as before at the distant business outing in Lake Placid – and he now confirmed his splendid form at the season's highlight in Planica.

Althaus in the rush of victory

It was a curious, thrilling, highly exciting jumping that resembled a lottery. Defending champion Piotr Zyla managed the feat of jumping from 13th place to the top in the final round. For this, the Pole had to break the hill record, which Stefan Kraft had set in the first round with 102.5 meters.

The Austrian actually fell back to fourth place, Zyla landed in this windy competition only at 105 meters, and the Germans moved in this "millimeter jumping", of which Horngacher later spoke because of the density of the competition, on the other two medal ranks. "It's just cool to be the head coach of such a team," enthused the Tyrolean, who is actually always controlled.

For the unexpected double success of his two jumpers, Horngacher saw the decisive start-up aid in the women. Katharina Althaus and Co. are experiencing golden times in Slovenia, which has been dressed in a magnificent white winter dress since Sunday. In the singles, the 26-year-old from Oberstdorf won the title she had been longing for for years before the weekend, when the devil was loose.

And even in the team, which crossed the Bakken a few hours ahead of the men, the victory led exclusively over Team D. "Katha's success helped us brutally," said Horngacher later in his analysis. "The success of the girls has pushed us and carries us along."