The Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf begin!
Today the cross-country skiers make the start.
We are in the live ticker.
Oberstdorf - we're finally starting!
The Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf * actually started on Tuesday.
The first competitions will not start until two days later - the hunt for medals will start on Thursday, February 25th!
What's in it for Germans *?
Well, Peter Schlickenrieder is quite honest about that.
The cross-country skiing trainer is known for pithy announcements, and he had one ready before the start.
Only it turned out very differently than expected.
“I started as a national coach with the aim of winning a medal in Oberstdorf.
After two and a half years you have to be realistic: I can't keep the promise, ”said the 51-year-old before the classic sprints on Thursday (qualification 9.00 am / finals 11.30 am).
Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf: Starting shot on Thursday
Surrender instead of declaring war?
Before the first kilometer is run in Oberstdorf, where the German cross-country skiers - according to the coach shortly after his start at the end of 2018 - should be "at the latest able to do it again"?
No, Schlickenrieder did not want his statements to be understood as a self-abandonment.
“We have continuously improved, have taken a step forward and are well positioned,” he says.
Only: Other nations, the Scandinavians, the Russians, are better positioned; instead of medals, the Germans have to fight for “that everyone here shows their personal best, ideally their best lifetime achievement”.
Nordic World Ski Championships in the live ticker: Cross-country skiing on Thursday - no chance for the Germans?
In order to achieve at least this, Schlickenrieder often had his runners practice on the brutally difficult routes in the Ried ("the Burgstall climb is a world record"), which this time are even more selective due to the high temperatures.
In the run-up to winter, he temporarily withdrew his A-teams from the World Cup, instead it was said: Burgstall until you drop.
"It's a home advantage that we know when and where the hammer is coming," says the coach.
He himself knows how to win medals as an underdog at major events. Schlickenrieder won Olympic silver in a sprint in Salt Lake City in 2002 when he was still a German domain.
But in the traditional opening discipline, the DSV team lacks top strength after Denise Herrmann said goodbye to biathlon and Sandra Ringwald's career ended.
Victoria Carl, fifth in the 2019 World Cup, is not expected to be miraculous after injury problems.
Nordic World Ski Championships in the live ticker: Cross-country skiers only outsiders - Sad anniversary?
And the appearances of the greatest hopefuls come later: Katharina Hennig, whose strengths predestine her for the skiathlon on Saturday and the 10 km race on Tuesday, last scratched the absolute top of the world, finished second in Val di Fiemme and in in the absence of the Norwegians their presence fourth in Falun.
“That was on tracks that suit her extremely well.
So you can't assume that she can fight for a medal, "says Schlickenrieder:" Top six, top eight - then we have achieved a lot. "Hennig should also push the season, which was once the flagship for women and men, now Medal contenders only in exceptional cases.
"We'd have to pass one of the big favorites, that's extremely difficult," says Schlickenrieder.
And that's why it will be a sad, round birthday in Oberstdorf: March 4th will be the tenth anniversary of the last World Cup medals - in 2011 the men's relay Filbrich, Teichmann, Göring and Angerer won bronze in Oslo.
(akl / sid)
