Germany claimed the Large Hill Mixed Team title after a fascinating opening to the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup 2024/25 campaign in Lillehammer, Norway.
The quartet of Selina Freitag, Andreas Wellinger, Katherina Schmid and Pius Paschke, achieved a combined total of 1097.4 points from their eight jumps, across two rounds.
It saw them finish clear of Norway (1075.1) and Austria (1065.9), who retained the positions they held after the first, qualifying, round.
“It’s the perfect opener for the season,” Wellinger told FIS.
“As a team you win and you lose together and today I was not the reason to win the team competition as my three team-mates did a fantastic job and I’m super happy to be part of this team.”
As is traditional with the mixed competition, the women took to the hill first.
20-year old Tetiana Pyltpchuk (UKR) had the honour of opening the season and managed to clear 70m, which attained 25.9 points.
The scores would increase significantly from that point with Germany (137.6), Austria (130.9) and Norway (120.2) occupying the top three positions after the first jumps.
An impressive jump from Daniel Tschofenig (AUT), which measured 124.5m, helped Austria claim the top spot after completion of the second jumps.
At this stage the top-three nations looked well-established, but Slovenia possess the reigning women’s crystal globe winner in Nika Prevc (SLO) and she secured a stunning score of 87 points for her 138m jump to haul her nation back into contention.
The USA would have been expected to be in the mix for a place in the second round, however a zip malfunction on Tate Frantz’s suit prevented him from taking to the gate, which meant the USA’s bid ended early.
After the completion of the jumps in the opening round just Germany held a lead of 551.2 points, 8.9 ahead of Norway, with Austria in third (12.7 back)
However, a Norwegian protest was upheld and Anna Odine Stroem (NOR) had her jump upgraded to 123m, which following a readjustment of the scores saw her nation trail Germany by just 3.5 points, rather than the initial 8.9.
Slovenia (519.2) were 32 points off the lead in fourth, ahead of fellow qualifiers Japan, Finland, Poland and France, with Ukraine, USA and Italy eliminated.
In a short mid-session interview Pius Paschke (GER) praised his female team-mates for doing a “really good job” and stated he felt he and male team-mate Wellinger had been “solid” so far.
They continued in much the same vein of form in round two.
Buoyed by their score in the first German continued to maintain their lead round after round with the Norwegian quartet of Stoem, Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal, Eirin Maria Kvandal and Marius Lindvik strengthening their case for second position.
Legendary champion Sara Takanashi (JPN) and Italy’s summer Grand Prix champion Lara Malsiner (ITA) showed their potential for individual honours at the weekend with strong showings in the team event, but their nations fell short when it came to combined totals.
Prevc (SLO) again gave Slovenia hope with the highest scoring jump of the day (89.7 points) after travelling 139.5m.
However, they would ultimately finish fourth as Jan Hoerl (AUT) did enough with his final jump to secure Austria third on the podium behind winners Germany and Norway.
The Mixed Team discipline, which debuted at the FIS World Champions in 2013 and made its Olympic bow at Beijing 2022, was making a welcome return to the World Cup circuit after a year absence.
Its showcase appearance, as the first even of the 2024/25 campaign, is part of a wider move towards attaining gender equality in the sport.
This season men and women will compete at the same venue, over the same World Cup competition weekend, on six occasions, which will increase in 2025/26.
In the season following the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy the stated ambition is for men and women to have a fully shared calendar.
The ski jumper will return to the Lusgaardsbakken hill on Saturday for first of two days of individual World Cup competitions.
23.11.2024
11:00 – QUA Women’s LH
12:30 – WC Women’s LH
14:45 – QUA Men’s LH
16:00 – WC Men’s LH
24.11.2024
11:00 – QUA Women’s LH
12:30 – WC Women’s LH
14:45 – QUA Men’s LH
16:00 – WC Men’s LH
All times listed are CET.
