Jari Mantila criticized Norwegian ski jumping judges.
Olympic champion Jari Mantila wants ski jumping judges to be more professional. PASI LEISMA
Hill jumping specialist Jari Mantila made harsh claims on Viaplay’s World Cup broadcast on Friday evening.
The second round of the men’s suurmäki competition was about to start, when the reporter Pauliina Pitkänen talked with Mantila about the telemark subs and the importance of the jumping judges.
Mantila initially said that he definitely wants to keep the judges involved in the sport. Especially because the jumpers would make a proper telemark when landing for their own safety.
After this, however, the expert began to directly call for the professionalization of the jury.
– The Norwegians are heading home, he shook.
– They give the Norwegians more points, and take away from others.
Immediately afterwards, Mantila began to withdraw his harsh statement.
– It was humor, of course, but that’s how they pull (homeward) in every job here in the Nordic sports championships, he said.
The matter has been investigated
The bias of hill jumping judges has been discussed before.
In 2021, an international study came to the surface, which investigated the level of “pulling home” by jumping judges with a sample of 76,000 jumps.
According to the study, French, Czech, Polish and “especially Russian” judges seem to favor athletes from their own country.
Among the 12 countries most examined in the study, Finns and Norwegians stood out. They don’t much favor their compatriots in the jumping tower.
So at least this statistic contradicts Mantila’s statement.