Ski jumper Katharina Althaus has completed a brilliant Olympic dress rehearsal with two podium finishes in Ljubno, Slovenia. The 21-year-old from Oberstdorf came third in the victory of the Austrian Daniela Iraschko-Stolz on Sunday, 24 hours earlier she had only had to admit defeat to the Norwegian World Cup leader Maren Lundby.
Althaus, who finished among the top three eight times in her eight seasonal competitions, flew from Logarska dolina to 87.5 and 89.0 m on Sunday. With 259.3 points, it was just behind Iraschko-Stolz (262.4) and Lundby (260.6). Iraschko-Stolz, Olympic silver medallist of Sochi, had returned to the World Cup in Ljubno after a forced break of almost a year due to a knee injury.
Seven times season’s winner Lundby further extended her lead in the overall World Cup. With 940 points, it is now 300 points ahead of Althaus.
Olympic champion Carina Vogt (Degenfeld), who, like Althaus, had not competed in the show jumping competitions in the Japanese city of Zao, finished fifth as on Saturday. The two other German Olympic riders Juliane Seyfarth (Ruhla) and Ramona Straub (Langenordach) finished in eighth place on Sunday and 14th, Luisa Görlich (Lauscha) finished 29th.
Althaus had celebrated her first career victory in Ljubno last year, when she won in a historic German triple triumph over Vogt and Svenja Würth, who is currently pausing due to a torn cruciate ligament.
Before the Winter Games in Pyeongchang (9. till 25. February) two more jumps should have taken place next weekend in Hinzenbach/Austria, but due to lack of snow they were cancelled. The search for a substitute host was also unsuccessful.