Germany earn fourth successive mixed team World Championship gold medal in Oberstdorf

Germany made the most of home advantage to successfully defend their mixed team normal hill world title in Obertsdorf on Sunday afternoon.

The German quartet of Katharina Althaus, Markus Eisenbichler, Anna Rupprecht and Karl Geiger saw off fierce competition from the much-fancied Norwegian and Austrian teams to sit top of the standings for a fourth successive World Championships.

Victory in Oberstdorf follows similar successes in Falun in 2015, Lahti in 2017 and Seefeld in 2019, with Althaus and Eisenbichler being present for three out of the four victories in the past six years.

And the duo were at their best once again this weekend, with Althaus recording a score of 255.5 points from her two jumps, while her teammate wasn't far behind with a score of 250.5.

Marita Kramer got the Austrians off to a strong start with a score of 260.2, although Michael Hayboeck could only follow it up with a score of 233.9 to leave his compatriots with ground to make up.

But another strong showing from Daniela Iraschko-Stolz saw the Austrians gain ground in the third leg as the 37-year-old used all of her experience to produced jumps worthy of a score of 248.0 to keep her country competitive.

Meanwhile, Norway were still in contention, with Maren Lundby twice flying through the air with aplomb to put her team in the mix with jus the final jumps to go.

But Geiger proved exactly why he is considered one of the best in the game with two flawless jumps to seal the win, with a final effort of 134.9 enough to put Germany on top of the podium once again.

Halvor Egner Granerud's final-round score of 137.3 in his final jump was enough to keep Norway in second spot, with Stefan Kraft producing the goods to earn Austria the bronze medal.

Sportsbeat 2021