Oberstdorf, Innsbruck, Willingen, Wisla and in the future also in Rio? The world’s best ski jumpers could soon be taking to the ski jumps in hot Brazil.
What sounds like a joke is absolutely serious: ski jumping official Sandro Pertile has great visions for his sport and believes, among other things, competitions in Brazil at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro are possible.
“We’re thinking of a mobile system. We could set it up in Rio in the Maracanã and put on a huge show”said the race director of the world association FIS in Bischofshofen, Austria.
Dream: 150 m jumps on a mobile device Ski jumping facility
The Italian Pertile currently still sees ski jumping as a winter sport. But how long? The race director has looked into the topic intensively and believes that Brazil is not the only place possible for future ski jumping events: “There is the possibility of building indoor facilities, for example in Dubai – if we could find an investor. The mobile facility with a hill size of 150 meters is our goal. We could go anywhere in the world with it.”said Pertile. This means that the FIS wants to enable jumps of up to 150 meters in countries that have absolutely nothing to do with winter sports in terms of climate.
Hybrid variant tested in Wilsa
These ideas are still a thing of the future. But that could change given climate change. “We have great options: We can jump on snow. We can jump on mats. We can jump hybrid”, he said. The hybrid variant, i.e. the run-up with an ice track and the landing on mats, was already implemented in Wisla, Poland, last winter, so it would also be possible to extend the season beyond the winter and jump in places where swimming trunks are worn all year round .
We are still in a brainstorming phase, said Pertile. “But it’s an interesting phase. We should be open to new things.”