I have moved to the US of A and since then I have been unable to see any ski-jumping. I did not find any way to watch Eurosport from here and I don’t have a satellite dish yet. So I missed a whole season. On the bright side, I’m in Salt Lake City, maybe I get lucky and the boys will come here again :)
Andreas Kofler had a very good season in 2010/2011. His best one yet. But it was still a surprise to find him in such good shape this new season. He’s had some back problems over the summer, but he seems to have recovered well and what he’s doing is just amazing.
Five victories out of eleven competitions… I call that a win! Keep it up Andi!
With just one day to go till the start of the new season, spirits are high and people are on their way to Ruka. Safe trip everyone and have fun!
This year is going to be quite different. Adam Malysz will be greatly missed. He has been a constant presence for so many years and one of the most beloved and successful jumpers in history. He was also brave enough to retire while he was still in glory. We can not say the same about Janne Ahonen, but we can not deny he was also one of the jumpers that was much loved and left his mark in the history of the sport. In the end, we have to face the fact that two ski-jumping legends have retired.
As we all know, Anders Jacobsen has given up jumping and, if I understood correctly, he is currently working for a sports television network in Norway. He is not the only loss in the Norwegian team. Mika Kojonkoski has retired from coaching and is now an active politician in Kuopio.
The saddest loss this year is without doubt Pavel Karelin. He was very promising and his results showed much improvement in the last season. He finished 8th in the Summer GP. On October 9th he died in a car accident. May he rest in peace!
We can only put our hopes in the younger jumpers, wait and see who will pose a challenge for the amazing Thomas Morgenstern and enjoy these incredible four months of ski jumping magic ;)
I am aware I have not posted anything regarding the Summer Grand Prix, and this is mainly due to the fact that competitions have not been broadcast in my country. Thank you Eurosport, you’re great as always! Of course we would rather see the fourth rerun of that tennis match instead of the LIVE ski jumping competition!
So, the plan is that I’ll just wait for the Grand Prix to end and then post results and a few statistics.
Just for the record, Morgenstern winning all the time kinda kills the buzz of the whole thing! Not that I do not love the guy, but I do like some competition and some uncertainty to it all.
A short while ago Bjoern Einar Romoeren has started using Twitter. At first he’d just post stuff in Norwegian, but after a few days he switched to English and now he’s worldwide comprehensible.
As I suspected, he’s a funny guy, although he kinda twitts a lot. Then again, it’s people like him that make Twitter more interesting than Facebook :)
So a few moths ago the Ski Federation released some news regarding the change in regulations regarding the BMI (body mass index).
Before the last season it was raised from 19.5 to 20.5 and now it has been raised again to 21. As this is not an issue for some ski-jumpers, others do find it a problem to gain weight as Simon Ammann complains in this article and Bjorn Einar Romoeren on his Twitter account.
This is mostly a safety measure, to prevent health problems like anorexia in athletes. Should their BMI register under 21, they will have to fly on shorter skis.
Personally, I thought the greater issue would be the fact that the position of the boot on the ski would have to change 2 or 3 cm, creating a change in the position of the athlete during flight. But as the Norwegians have previously stated that they train with small skis to make it harder, I guess they’re used to these changes and will adapt easily.
The BMI formula is like this: weight (kg) / height² (m²) and this is to determine the maximum length of the skis, that can go to a maximum of 146% of the athlete’s height. The weight of an athlete is measured with suit and boots.
Here we have the complete schedule with starting times for the 2011-2012 season.
Can’t wait till winter :)
I was kind of lazy for the past few month and have not kept up properly with the news releases. But there’s less than two weeks till the Summer Grand Prix and I must get back on the horse.
As for the latest news, the Ladies Cup has begun this weekend, for all those who are interested. Here is the summer schedule. Enjoy!
Ski-jumping graphic
This book came out last year and it has a chapter on Kinetics and Muscular Function in Ski Jumping.
Sounds interesting. Has anyone read it?
My favorite Norwegians will no longer be in ski jumping.
Anders Jacobsen announced today during a press conference that he will be taking a break from ski jumping this season due to lack of motivation.
It is true that the las season was not a good one for him, and having a very dynamic career behind him, his disappointment is understandable. He had his WC debut in the 2006/2007 season and won the Four Hills Tournament. He has 6 WC victories and he has been an important and reliable part of the Norwegian national team.
I have to admit he is one of my favourite ski jumpers. I still remember his first season, how he was Norway’s golden boy, how promising he was. Hope he’ll be back!
Well, he’s awesome mostly because he updates his blog regularly. Of course, you’re gonna say he’s not the only one, so does Thomas Morgenstern. Yes, that is correct, but Tom Hilde has a very special of keeping in touch with his fans. He is very easy going and very open about his activities. Through his blog updates we can have a glimpse at the life of an athlete, the rhythm of his work-out and practice and the sacrifices/benefits that come along. As a bonus, he also keeps us updated regarding his extra activities, posts videos about these and about his friends and news about his studies. Of course, amid these we’ll sometimes find a post about his trip to the dentist and a picture with him in the dentist chair, or about the features on his new car and when he changed his tyres or about how great the new Apple products are. These latter are actually the cherry on top, by sharing this information with his fans, Tom offers an image of himself, not the athlete, but the man.
Although he makes my days seem unbearably boring compared to his, I hope he keeps it up (and as I’m quite sure he’s an adrenaline junkie, I expect more fun activities are on the way as summer approaches)!
Ski jumping - how it’s done :)
