The top women ski jumpers are looking forward to the first women’s ski flying in history. But there are also doubts – one athlete says: “It’s too dangerous for me.”
It is the largest ski flying hill in the world. Vikersundbakken is nicknamed Monsterbakken. 134 meters inrun length, 36 degrees inclination, a K-point of 200 meters and a hillsize of 240 meters. The hill record is 253.5 meters. And this is exactly where the first women’s ski flying competition in history will take place on Sunday.
“Dream” or “milestone” – these words keep coming up when the athletes or their coaches talk about the spectacular event. “Ski flying is the greatest thing you can do in ski jumping. We’ve waited so long now”, Althaus told the German Press Agency. The debut in the supreme discipline is the next logical development step on the way to sporting equality.
“We are ready” – ski jumpers before a historic premiere
“We’re really looking forward to it”, Althaus also confirmed in an interview with Sportschau after her 15th World Cup victory in Lillehammer and dismissed questions about the possibility of getting back to the top of the Raw Air Tour rankings in ski flying. It becomes clear: Sunday is not about World Cup points, about individual performances. This is about something bigger.
And Eva Pinkelnig, overall World Cup winner from Austria, can hardly wait for the historic competition: “I am ready. I’m really happy”she said after jumping in Lillehammer: “At the inrun tower I talked to Katharina (Althaus, editor’s note) about it before the competition and we both said: We are ready.”
No pressure on athletes – start “not a must”
DSV athlete Anna Rupprecht also emphasized the historical significance of ski flying on Sunday: “How often do you have such a chance in life? We all don’t know if it will happen again at some point.” Finishing 14th on the Raw Air rankings, she narrowly qualified for the competition at Vikersundbakken. However, there would be no pressure to take part in ski flying despite reservations: “Not at all. The trainers and the FIS took it easy. It really isn’t a must.”
“Medical and moral arguments” – Innauer against start
National coach Maximilian Mechler is a little less euphoric than his athletes: “Overall we are happy. We hope that the conditions are good, that at least there is no need to worry.” However, there was no special preparation in advance. This date has been fixed long enough, a lot has been said about it. And by far not all of them are overwhelmed by anticipation – but by concern for the well-being of the athletes.
For example, ex-ski jumper Toni Innauer, who worked for ZDF as an expert for twelve years. In an open letter, he criticized the decision to allow women to compete in ski flying: “The relevant difference to their male sports colleagues is not so much in the sporting ability, but in the problems to be expected with a typical ski flying fall, as Daniel Andre Tande or Thomas Morgenstern had recently experienced.”, Innauer is quoted as saying. So he sees “important biomechanical, medical and ethical moral arguments”who speak against an introduction.
“Too dangerous for me” – Austrian renounces ski flying
In order to protect the athletes, only the best 15 should start at the premiere – more precisely the best 14, because the Austrian Julia Mühlbauer voluntarily decided not to take part in the ski flying premiere. A disc injury in the fall had hampered her preparation and she still doesn’t feel ready for the big flight: “It’s too dangerous for me, my flight system is too unstable. You can’t compare it to ski jumping off a large hill.”she said.
Still, she regretted the fact that she won’t start: “Of course it would be good for society, for the further development of women’s ski jumping, if the 15 athletes who are allowed to actually start. But everyone has to decide for themselves. If you’re unprepared, it’s just too dangerous.”says the 18-year-old, who is just over the age limit for ski flying.
“Just go” – the remedy for “nervous fluttering”
Rupprecht did not want to deal with the fact that such doubts could arise in her shortly before the jump: “Don’t even think about it. You’ll probably get very nervous.” But at the end of the day, she has a means for that too: “Just drive off as soon as the trainer says goodbye. Everything will be automated. And you’ll make a cautious jump.”
And Althaus also recently admitted that she will have “nervous fluttering”, but she is not worried about Sunday. “I know my system is pretty stable, so I don’t worry about it at all”said Althaus. “The men’s coaches and the men themselves have all said to me that they see no problem in seeing me fly. They all know that I can do it.”
So it is to be hoped that the external conditions will be favorable and that the ski flying premiere from Vikersundbakken will go down in the history of women’s ski jumping as a historic and successful day.