Nordic Junior World Championships

Gold, silver & bronze: mega triumph for Austria

Paul Walcher

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Austria's team won gold, silver and bronze at the end of the competitions at the Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in Lake Placid on Saturday (local time). 

The title was won by Paul Walcher as defending champion in the combined singles. Together with Andreas Gfrerer, Katharina Gruber and Anna-Sophia Gredler, he took silver in the mixed competition, while ski jumpers Sara Pokorny, Meghann Wadsak, Stephan Embacher and Simon Steinberger also secured mixed bronze.

Walcher and Gfrerer also won the team sprint on Thursday. The 19-year-old Walcher has therefore won two gold medals and one silver. In the individual event, the Styrian came third in the 10-km cross-country race, six seconds ahead of the Japanese jump winner Atsushi Narita. Gfrerer finished sixth, Gruber and Gredler eighth and tenth respectively in the junior women's event. The mixed competition had been brought forward from Sunday due to the weather.

Combined athlete Walcher now with fixed World Cup ticket
The individual title gives Walcher the right to compete individually in the World Cup until the 2026 Junior World Championships. "I achieved my goal of defending the title and the medals in the mixed team and team sprint were the icing on the cake," said Walcher. "The fact that there was another race two and a half hours later (mixed, note) was a very special experience."

The Austrian ski jumping quartet finished behind Slovenia and the USA. For the two Tyrolean athletes Embacher and Steinberger, it was also their third medal at the championships in the USA. They had won team gold together, Embacher also took the individual title. Steinberger had finished third. "The atmosphere in the team was great. We had a cool atmosphere and brought it into the competition. It was a good finish," said Embacher.