The Norwegian team is experiencing a bitter Four Hills Tournament. A local expert counts the ski jumping nation and explains what this has to do with the scandal from the previous season.
Even at the final competition in Bischofshofen there was no place in the top 10. Halvor Egner Granerud ended up in 13th place as the best Norwegian.
Things didn’t look much better in the overall standings either. The best Norwegian is Johann Andre Forfang in 13th place, more than 170 points behind the winner Domen Prevc. A year ago, Forfang took fourth place.
“It’s not a big surprise that the Norwegian team can’t compete at the top with the best, considering what happened last year. They seem to be very conservative in terms of equipment and then you stay a little behind the best nations,” Norwegian ski jumping expert Johan Remen Evensen told broadcaster NRK.
Review: Last winter, the Norwegian team caused a major scandal. The top jumpers Johann André Forfang and Marius Lindvik were the focus of the manipulation scandal.
The subsequent sanctions, however, were relatively mild. This made Forfang and Lindvik’s protestations that they knew nothing about it all the louder. Their bans were paid off at the start of the World Cup. The association tried to respond to the scandal by adjusting and tightening the rules.
Norwegians’ hands are tied
Now the Norwegians are apparently exercising great caution.
“Norway is in a situation in which we cannot afford another setback of this kind,” said expert Evensen. “Their hands are tied. They cannot go overboard and they cannot loudly criticize other nations that do so. So Norway is simply in a checkmate situation.”
Last year, “they certainly took a bigger risk by pushing the limits, as we like to call it in ski jumping,” said the former ski jumper. “They tried to exploit the system set by the FIS to a greater extent.”
Former tour winner Anders Jacobsen takes a similar approach.
“I think Norway is quite afraid of getting a punishment now,” he said. “What happened in Trondheim is probably pretty deep in the souls of those involved. For the athletes it probably feels a bit unfair that it has to be that way,” said Jacobsen on “NRK”.