Ski Jumping: Near Miss Causes Shock: 'They All Should Be Fired!'

Originally published in SPORT1 on November 23, 2024

Sundal Escapes Disaster

During the qualification for the men's individual World Cup kick-off in Lillehammer, Norwegian ski jumper Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal was hit by a loose advertisement board and was shoved down the jump. Sundal, frustrated by the incident, did not receive much sympathy from Sven Hannawald.

Fifty jumpers had already taken to the air in Lillehammer when Sundal, with bib number 51, prepared to take off. Just before the jump, he unexpectedly received a push from behind: an advertisement board had become loose and hit him, causing him to lose balance and end up on the run.

Sundal managed to regain his composure and completed the descent, despite the serious interference. He managed an impressive jump of 132 meters.

'This is Life-Threatening'

Eurosport expert Werner Schuster was left in disbelief after the incident, stating, "They all should be fired! What they are doing is life-threatening!" Sundal himself was furious after landing, throwing away his gloves in protest.

ARD expert Sven Hannawald, however, expressed little understanding for Sundal's reaction: "It's a bit too much drama. It was only the qualification, and at the end of the day, the man up there could not help it. He probably wanted to stop, but he couldn’t, and today's generation of jumpers tends to blow things out of proportion."

Hannawald later defended those responsible for the incident, explaining: "They had already gone two positions lower in the qualification before him. The advertising board is electrically powered and attached to a cable, and I assume the stop function failed, and it continued moving until it pushed him onto the run."

In conclusion, Hannawald praised Sundal’s performance: "The jump itself shows the level he has, that he could still perform such a good jump under those circumstances." He added jokingly, "One could say he started from orange instead of green, so he would be disqualified."

Ultimately, Sundal finished the qualification in twelfth place.