Little Desire to Meet a Norwegian

Little Desire to Meet a Norwegian

On Thursday, ski jumpers return to the World Cup, including the disqualified Norwegians Marius Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang from the World Championships.

Ski jumping Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger is looking ahead to the upcoming season's final stretch with skepticism due to the suit manipulation scandal involving the Norwegian team.

"I really have little desire to meet a Norwegian on the hill," said the 29-year-old to ServusTV and added: "Not because someone is explicitly to blame, but because this manipulation from A to Z has gone way over the line."

Despite the scandal, both Marius Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang will participate in the Raw Air Tour starting Thursday (5 PM) with the jump in Oslo, as confirmed by the Norwegian Ski Association on Tuesday. The two jumpers were disqualified during the World Championship's large hill competition last Saturday for manipulated suits.

The Norwegian federation admitted to the cheating on Sunday and suspended chief coach Magnus Brevik on Monday but continued to assert that the jumpers were unaware. However, many experts and those involved, including Wellinger, have cast doubt on this claim.

"I find it very hard to believe," he said. "I know from my experience in the last twelve years that when changes happen to the suit, I notice it while I'm inside, and I ask what has changed."

Wellinger describes the suit manipulation as a "mockery" of all other jumpers, highlighting that he won silver behind Lindvik at the World Championship on the normal hill.

When asked whether he might now deserve the gold medal, he said, "I can’t judge that. Even if I were to be sent the gold in the mail: I wasn’t at the award ceremony, I didn’t hear the anthem, there aren’t any pictures, the emotions aren’t there. Everything we live for in this sport, that can’t be given back to me by anyone."