The dominance of a few nations in ski jumping could become a problem. In order to break up these structures, ski jumping chairman Mika Kojonkoski presented the FIS with a revolutionary rule change. But the world association weighed it down. What’s behind it?
Football fans probably think of the big clubs in the Premier League when they think of the “Big Six”. Manchester City and United, Liverpool FC, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham have dominated football on the island for years and decades. Miracles like the Leicester City Championship are a welcome change.
Ski jumping also wants something similar. When thinking about the “Big Six” those interested in winter sports will probably primarily get stuck with the dominant nations of the last World Cup years. Athletes from Germany, Poland, Austria, Norway, Slovenia and Japan have clinched the majority of victories in the past.
Crash landing for former ski jumping nation Finland
The picture can be underpinned by this statistic: In December 2019, the Swiss Killian Peier was the last jumper outside of the “Big Six” nations to even stand on the podium in the Ski Jumping World Cup.
Mika Kojonkoski believes the gap between strong and weak nations is widening. In particular, the former ski jumping nation Finland, which produced one of the best jumpers of all time, above all with Janne Ahonen, has been lagging behind in recent years.
The Finn Kojonkoski himself has been chairman of the ski jumping committee of the International Ski Federation FIS since 2015. The 59-year-old previously worked as a coach and celebrated lasting successes, especially during his time with the Norwegian national team.
Sponsored teams instead of national teams?
In order to bring the large and small ski jumping nations closer together again, the Finn, in his FIS function, suggested a proposal with revolutionary potential. “I put forward the idea that ski jumping should become more like cycling,” Kojonkoski explained in an interview with Finnish daily Iltalehti.
In the future, the jumpers could no longer compete for their countries, but rather in teams potentially sponsored by companies. Athletes from South Korea, Canada or Kazakhstan, for example, could also train under the best coaches.
The big problem with this revolutionary proposal: The FIS is completely averse. The resistance of the world association is so great that Kojonkoski immediately dropped the idea after the presentation.
For the time being, the ski jumpers will continue to hunt for distances for their countries and not for internationally mixed teams.