After the four new folk heroes had reached the goal of their dreams, the devil was finally loose in the valley of the entrenchments. Another world championship title for Slovenia. For the country, which was allowed to host Nordic World Ski Championships for the first time in its young history. Well, there were bankruptcies, there was bad luck, and there were also glitches in the organization of this major event. But the Slovenians are particularly good at celebrating exuberantly.

Ralf Weitbrecht

Sports editor.

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It was like balm for the soul that in the last competition on the large ski jump the title went to Slovenia. For the German crew of Markus Eisenbichler, Constantin Schmid, Andreas Wellinger and Karl Geiger, who landed on a disappointing fifth place, only the appreciative view from a distance of the podium remained, on which Lovro Kos, Ziga Jelar, Anze Lanisek and Timi Zajc, who had already been decorated as individual world champion, were frenetically cheered. Later, as the World Cup area in this enchanting valley in the Julian Alps emptied more and more, the shuttle buses going to Kranjska Gora became rolling party parties in which people sang and swayed to their heart's content.

"All in all, we are extremely satisfied"

It was not a broken leg that there was no further reason for exuberant joy for the German Ski Association (DSV) on the penultimate day of this World Championships. It was already clear beforehand that ski jumpers, cross-country skiers and combined skiers had never run better at a World Championships than in Planica. Compared to other championships, there were medals galore, twelve in total, and it is one of those wonderful stories of these one and a half weeks that not only the usual suspects such as the combined athlete Jarl Magnus Riiber (four World Championship titles) or the cross-country skier Johannes Hoesflot Kläbo (three) from Norway, which has been leading winter sports nation for a quarter of a century, dominate the headlines.

With Katharina Althaus, who can also call herself a three-time world champion, a ski jumper has come into focus, whose positive charisma is representative of Team D – as well as the two-time silver medalist in the combined athletes, the just 17-year-old Nathalie Armbruster. For Althaus' successes and those of her male colleagues, "all the nations of the world congratulated us for ten days," said Horst Hüttel. The DSV team boss responsible for ski jumping and Nordic combined was not disappointed despite the missed opportunity to defend the world champion team title in Oberstdorf in 2021. "All in all, we are extremely satisfied."

The manager can also be more than satisfied with Hermann Weinbuch's many years of work. Since 1996, the former world champion has been pulling the strings in the combination as the responsible national coach. This has now come to an end. Weinbuch ceases, but does not withdraw from the world of combined skiers. "It will not be an easy task to replace such a man," said Hüttel, who promised: "Hermann has such great merits. We want to continue working with him until 2026, but in a different capacity. We want to use his knowledge in the coaching school and for the next generation."