Final Ski Jumping World Cup Ready for Takeoff

By Peter Graves
Special to Universal Sports

Standing at the bottom of the world's tallest ski flying hill gives you pause. Your mind is bombarded by questions: How do they do it, why do they do it?

For the special jumpers that are here this weekend, no explanation can be given if you don't understand. For them, to throw themselves off the world's tallest ski jump at more than 100 kilometers per hour and fly the length of two football fields, seems like a pretty normal day.

There are just six ski flying hills in the world, the ones that measure 180 meters or taller. The biggest Olympic-sized hill is a "mere" 120 meters. Viva la difference. Instead of three or four seconds of flight, you might have seven seconds. Everything is bigger, badder and more dangerous on the big flyers.

The town of Planica, Slovenia is a distinctive and majestic Alpine valley about three kilometer's from the Austrian-Italian border. Skiers have been jumping here since 1921 and drawing crowds ever since. About 80,000 spectators a day are expected at this weekend’s closing event.

The atmosphere at the bottom of the hill is a mixture of fun and madness. Crowds fueled on beer and local moonshine express their enthusiasm with horns, bells and cheers. The jumpers here are gods, and the crowd comes to pay homage to them.

Expect to see men like Norwegian Bjoern Einar Romoreren, who set a new world record here of 239 meters in 2005.

This week I sat down with former U.S. Ski Team member Mike Holland of Norwich, Vt., to talk about ski flying. You see, Holland held the world record here of 186 meters in 1985 -- for half an hour. On the same day, Finnish jumper Matti Nykaenen flew past Holland with a jump of 187 meters, then 191 meters. "I was pretty nervous," Holland recalled. "We don't ski fly very often, maybe two times a winter, probably less than 18 jumps on a flying hill per year. That makes things nerve racking".

From mid-flight on the ski flying hill in Planica, jumpers have said it feels like you might land in the parking lot. From Innsbruck's Biergiesel Hill, there's an angle where it looks like jumpers might land in a nearby graveyard. There's a battle going on inside each jumper’s head. Mike Holland remembers little after the takeoff at Planica. "I truly felt like time was standing still and that everything was in super slow motion ... I kind of felt like I was laying on a glass coffee table and could see everything under me."

Local legend Viko Bogatai was the starter up top when Holland set his world record. As you might recall, Bogatai was the jumper who crashed in the "Agony of Defeat" opening on ABC's Wide World of Sports years ago.

Among those to watch this weekend will be World Cup ski jump overall winner Gregor Schlierenzauer, who, at just 19 years old, has won 12 World Cups this season. Also keep an eye on Austrian Wolfgang Loitzl, who won this year's Four Hills tourney and found the sweet spot with his jumping. Loitzl along with Thomas Morgenstern and Martin Koch lead the Austrian squad, which won the team event last weekend at Vikersund, Norway.

Swiss jumper Simon Amman had a great start to the season, a midway letdown, and is peaking again for Planica. He is very solid technically and has a cool head for flying.

The Germans look strong with their leader Martin Schmitt, who has found more confidence this season with their new head coach Werner Schuster, along with teammates Michael Neumayer and Felix Schoft.

Under new Russian coach Wolfang Steiert, Dimitri Vasseliew has improved by leaps and bounds. The Finn's have been leaning on Harri Ollie, Matti Hautamaki, Kalle Keituri and Ville Larento. We learned this week of the return of Finnish jumper Janne Ahonen, who retired after Torino and is back gunning for Olympic gold.

Watch for a return to fine form by 38-year-old Takanobu Okabe of Japan, who recently won his 11th World Cup event -- the oldest man to do so in the sport. He also won a medal in Liberec at the FIS World Championships.

While the Norwegians feature world record-holder Romoreren, they have not enjoyed a season of great success. Look to Anders Bardal, Roar Ljoekelsoey and Romoreren to lead the way for the Viking squad. They will be under some pressure here to jump to the level of their talents.

The French squad has shown real improvement with Emmanuel Chedal and Vincent Descombes Sevoie, and may be joined in Planica by their terrific Nordic combined athlete Jason Lamy Chappuis. It will tough for them to finish higher than inside the top 10 this weekend, which for them would be a victory.

Poland's Adam Malysz, who ruled the airwaves for the early part of the decade, seems unable to capture his flying form. However, he showed some positive signs in qualifications at Lahti. Most likely Poland will lean upon the talents of Kamil Stoch, 21, who was fourth at the Liberec Worlds in big hill jumping.

Of course, there will be many others on the start list for three days of spectacular ski flying on a hill that has very good wind conditions and holds the potential of another world record.

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