Germany ends 28-year drought at Nordic skiing world championships
February 22, 2015
There was a double dose of gold medal success for Germany at the Nordic skiing world championships in Falun, Sweden, on Sunday.
A German quartet of Tino Edelmann, Eric Frenzel, Fabian Riessle and Johannes Rydzek held off Norway and defending champions France in the Nordic combined event to finish atop the podium in a time of 44 minutes, 20.7 seconds.
"We are delighted," said Rydzek, who had played air guitar with his ski after his ski-jump in the morning portion of the event. "It was so kitschy, crossing the line in the sunset with the German flag in my hand."
Germany's last team event win was at the 1987 home worlds in Oberstdorf with a team that included current coach Herrmann Weinbuch, who sighed "At last."
A German team of Carina Vogt, Katharina Althaus, Richard Freitag and Severin Freund then matched that performance in the mixed team ski-jumping event later on Sunday.
Having led for three of four rounds, Norway's Rune Velta jumped 95.5 meters to close the gap and put pressure on the German quartet, but Freund recorded a 96-meter jump to secure the gold medal.
The result meant Vogt picked up a second gold medal in the discipline following her victory in the women's event on Friday.
Boost for German Olympic chief
Meanwhile, the head of Germany's Olympic Federation (DOSB) pointed to the large crowds at the championships in Sweden as evidence of why Germany must win the race to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
"You realize that where big events take place the enthusiasm is there. It shows in a positive way how the masses are mobilized for big sports events," said DOSB president Alfons Hörmann.
The DOSB will decide on March 16 on whether Hamburg or Berlin will be submitted as the country's preferred candidate city, and to aid the decision the Forsa Institute was to begin recording a survey of opinions from residents in both candidate cities from Sunday onwards.
A first poll in September noted that 53 per cent of residents in Hamburg were in favor of the city hosting the Olympics while 48 per cent of Berlin's citizens were supportive of its campaign, which officially launched in January.
"We are all very curious what will be the outcome of this important indicator of the public mood," Hörmann said of the poll. "Both cities have been advertising their product very actively (and) you can see with both that they want the Games."
"I am curious how the mood will change between the two surveys."
Residents of Munich passed up the chance to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, with Oslo and Stockholm also dropping out of the bidding process due to the costs involved.
"Just imagine how an Olympics would have been in Oslo or Munich, or even Stockholm who were in the race at the beginning as well. That's the reason why we in Germany want to take the next steps and discussions over the next days," said Hörmann.
After the DOSB decision on March 16, the vote will be ratified by a panel of experts and presented to the DOSB Assembly for approval on March 21. A decision by the IOC for the 2024 hosting rights will be finalized in 2017.
rd/pwh (AP,DPA)