Thannheimer targets comeback: “The feeling of competition hits different”

For Wendelin Thannheimer, the 2025/26 season brought both the biggest success and the toughest setback of his World Cup career.

The 26-year-old claimed his first individual World Cup podium with a second place in the Mass Start in Trondheim (NOR) in December 2025, nine months after winning his first senior World Championship title at the same venue.

Then his season ended early in March after a crash in Lahti (FIN) left him with a torn ACL and meniscus injury.

Despite missing the World Cup final in Oslo, the Oberstdorf native finished 11th in the Overall World Cup and is now working towards a return for the 2027/28 season.

Trondheim has played a central role in Thannheimers rise over the past two years.

At the 2025 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, Thannheimer won Team gold alongside fellow Oberstdorf athletes Johannes Rydzek, Julian Schmid and Vinzenz Geiger before returning the following winter to claim his first individual World Cup podium.

“The successes obviously mean a lot to me. To have my first World Championship start there and immediately win my first gold medal was an absolute dream,” Thannheimer said.

“Coming back the following winter, I already had so many good memories of the place. I got into it really well from the first jump, and from there everything just worked. For me, Trondheim really is a dream venue.”

His strong start to the 2025/26 winter was followed by the disappointment of narrowly missing selection for Germany’s Olympic team for Milano Cortina 2026. Thannheimer nevertheless returned strongly to World Cup competition before his season came to an abrupt end in Lahti.

The injury has since required two surgeries, turning the months after Lahti into a long rehabilitation period.

“The biggest challenge during rehabilitation is staying patient,” Thannheimer said. “Especially at the beginning, before the second surgery, it was extremely difficult because there was very little progress with the mobility of my knee.”

After the decision was made to undergo a second operation, progress became more noticeable and the focus gradually shifted towards rebuilding strength and returning to normal training.

“Now things are moving forward and I can see the progress, which is motivating,” he said. “It’s things like being able to ride a bike normally again or complete my strength training. Then, eventually, doing a normal jump again, going running and roller skiing. Getting all of those things back is what motivates me from day to day.”

While Thannheimer has been working through his rehabilitation, Nordic Combined has also faced a major setback following its exclusion from the Olympic Winter Games program for French Alps 2030.

“I didn’t really experience the mood among the athletes directly because I was in rehabilitation at the time. But of course everyone was deeply disappointed, including me. It was a brutal setback,” he said.

Thannheimer nevertheless believes the decision can strengthen the determination within the Nordic Combined community ahead of the next opportunity for inclusion in 2034.

“I also think it can be an opportunity for us to pick ourselves up, sit down together and really think about what we can do and what we need to do to get back in for 2034,” he said.

For Thannheimer, that cooperation is one of the sport’s biggest strengths, particularly as men’s and women’s Nordic Combined continue to develop together.

“I think our biggest strength is the unity among the athletes, but also together with the people responsible for the sport. We can only achieve all of this together,” he said.

“The women are definitely part of that as well. They have made a huge step forward, they are fully competitive and in no way behind us. If we all come together, I think that is our biggest strength.”

Thannheimer’s own focus remains on his rehabilitation and the long-term target of returning for the 2027/28 season. After months away from competition, what he misses most is not a particular result, but the atmosphere and tension that come with standing on a World Cup start line.

“What I’m looking forward to most is the feeling of sitting on the bar again for a competition jump, having those butterflies, and then standing at the start, feeling some nerves again and simply being excited to compete,” he said.

“The feeling of competition hits different compared to training. That is what I’m looking forward to most.”