Participation in the Olympic Games would be the greatest for the Italian ski jumper Andrea Campregher. Above all because it will take place in his home country next year. But to create sporting qualifications, he needs one thing above all: financial support. However, he no longer has a lot of time to maintain this, as he describes to Sport.de.
It is no coincidence that Italians are said to have a certain level of temperament and passion. In the best case, you are enthusiastic and infected yourself, you can’t escape.
So it is in the case of Andrea Campregher, at least if, like him, you have something for ski jumping. The 24-year-old describes himself as a “amateur ski jumper”, although he loves his sport over everything and has collected points in the World Cup and summer grand prix in the last and current year-in the elite series of ski jumping.
But with his passion for this sport, he is an exotic in the host country of the next Olympic Winter Games (!). “Even if it is one of the sports with most spectators in the world, interest in Italy is zero,” he says in conversation with sports.de. And that brings several problems with it.
Italian Campregher fights with three major problems
On the one hand, the training opportunities are manageable for him and his teammates – so as not to say, not currently available, since the ski jumping system in Predazzo in Trentino is still under construction for 2026 Olympics. In addition, the already coveted places in state authorities or the military for niche sports are still sown rarer. And that from private economy nobody would get the idea of investing in winter sports enthusiasts.
All three problems are so acute that they are more and more thoughtful out of Campregher in order not to say worrying young man because they make it so difficult for him to live out his big passion.
Because he could not score in the World Cup, he was taken into account in the second half and less often and therefore trained at home – but not on the ski jump and his disadvantage. “If you stay at home and can only work in the weight room and cannot work on your actual jump, it is almost impossible that you become a better ski jumper,” he explains the urgency that the ski jumps could be used again.
Instead, the ski jumper from the Veneto had to go back to his private car and drive abroad to do jumping training there. The costs for the trips, hotel accommodation and the use of the ski jumps finally got stuck on it themselves. “It would be no problem once or two, but if it is the case every week, it has no point,” he explains.
In this winter alone he had to pay a medium four -digit amount out of his own pocket “and it would have been much more expensive if I really trained like a professional how established World Cupathlets do and the costs are paid for by the association.” This was still the case in summer because he had permanently belonged to the A team. However, his situation tightened with the lack of results.
Ski jumping hope is not given a place in the military
Knowing that his shape curve would not rise steadily, he had already applied for a place in the military three years ago to have a firm pillar and to be able to pursue his sport without worries. He did this in vain for two more times, “and I didn’t get any reason why,” he says. “There are no fixed criteria to get there, but that is decided by individuals. But if you look at the fact that other athletes get a place there who have problems to get among the top 30 in the Alpine Cup (youngsters in the Nordic ski sports, note) and despite my results I do not understand,” he does not understand, “he explains.
And even on his bite and his previous path there are no flaws. “I am super motivated and I am also sure that I can get much better than I am under my current framework conditions. That’s why I would love to jump on for five years,” says Campregher in a firm voice and shining in the eyes.
Although he only came to ski jumping from Lake Garda at the age of 13, just half an hour, but he developed so well that he could even choose between the Predazzo and Tarvisio training centers. In the end he decided on the latter, “also because of the proximity to the ski jumps in Planica and Villach.”
Campregher between the Olympic dream and the question of meaning
He would like to qualify for the games in Milan and Cortina, for which he still has time until January 18, 2026 – if he is still a ski jumper at all. Because in view of his financially difficult question, “I ask myself the question of meaning,” he admits openly. “I don’t want to take these expenses and stress on me for another season and in the end may not be there,” he explains.
In the video: Ski jumping expert pulls seasonal conclusion
His last hope is now to find a private sponsor. Here, too, he made a lot of effort: “I went to all kinds of people and asked whether there is a possibility, but it is incredibly difficult in Italy. The companies have no great tax benefits like in other countries and winter sports are super niche. If the owner is not just as much passion as we have athletes for ski jumping, they are not interested.”
That is why it is “sad that I don’t even have to seriously think about it a year before the Olympics” and he doesn’t want to give up hope yet, stated opposite sport.de But: “Realistically, I have exactly a month to find someone.”
So a month to be infected by his passion so that he probably does not have to avoid his own (financial).