Pinkelnig sets his sights on the next medal

For her first single precious metal at a major event, the 34-year-old was duly celebrated at a campfire reception on Thursday evening in the ÖSV neighborhood of Lake Faaker See. “We’ve started, now it’s your turn,” she told her teammates about co-athlete Johannes Lamparter.

After a few quiet minutes with her loved ones, her boyfriend Philip and her family, the Dornbirn native, who finished on the World Cup podium 17 times over the course of the season, try to catalog her success. “Although many abroad think that it is easy to get a medal, it is not like that. There are a lot of girls who jump very well. It was a close fight, a tough fight, we showed very good sport,” explained the World Cup leader. “.

scheduled rest day

During the evening, tears of joy also flowed, but no one said a word about the gold, which he lost 2.2 points behind Germany’s Katarina Althaus. “I am happy and amazed that I am now vice-champion of the world. I am very happy with the medal. It was a lot of pressure. But then the joy was greater than the pressure,” says Pinkling.

As a bonus, she allowed herself a day of rest on Friday before heading to Kranjska Gora in the evening to present the medal. The women’s team competition will be included in the program the following day. “Team Austria will compete for the next medal on Saturday,” Benckeling vowed.

Defending the title of the target

Austria is the defending champion, and the ÖSV quartet’s chances of success are good, although Pinkelnig’s established teammates Kiara Kreuzer and Sara Marita Kramer didn’t excel in the first competition. Newcomer Julia Muhlbacher, on the other hand, almost jumped into the top 10 on her World Cup debut and finished 11th.

Who finished fourth next to Pinkelnig, Mühlbacher and Kreuzer is still open. Kramer and Jacqueline Sifriedsberger will face off against each other on Friday in training, ÖSV coach Harald Rudelauer announced. Styrian warned that the precious metal was not ready for his team to pick it up in any constellation. “We are medal contenders but Germany, Norway, Japan and Slovenia are very strong. All four have to be very good at ski jumping to be able to win a medal,” Rudelauer explained in an interview with the Austrian News Agency – Austria Press.