Celebrating Ski Jumping in the USA
Celebrating Ski Jumping in the USA
Not every nation in ski-jumping has the luxury to be accepted and funded by governmental programs. But maybe especially in this situation the sport really lives in the hearts and minds of dedicated jumpers, new blood and coaches, who give their knowledge and time to make ski jumping survive and grow – despite all funding difficulties and lacking media attention.
We would like to introduce Ski Jumping in the USA and how strong their ski jumping community is.
Did you know that the first world record in ski jumping that was not set by a Norwegian was jumped by American citizen Anders Haugen in 1911? It was 46.5m and followed by nine other records set by Americans. The last of them was Mike Holland with 186m set in Planica in March 1985. With this he was the second man to ever fly over 600 feet. His record lasted for 27minutes. Then came Matti Nykänen...
There have been 114 ski jumping complexes in the United States, most of them in Wisconsin (17) and 15 in California -who would have thought that? Did you know that colleges offered ski jumping in the past? Berkeley in California and Dartmouth (one of the elite colleges in the USA being located in New Hampshire) were two of them, but their old ski jumps don't exist anymore. However, the Lebanon Outing Club close by, Nick Alexander's home club, rebuilt their jumps in the 90's so ski jumping could survive there.
“I grew up pretty close to ski jumping, I always saw people ski jumping. That was pretty cool -so I had to try.”, said Nick Alexander.
But the good news is that in 2011 after nearly 30 years, ski jumping became part of the USCSA (United States Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association) again, which supports college sport and enables athletes to develop their skills rather than putting their sports career on the back burner for college.
As of today, there are 29 ski clubs in 12 states making kids' dreams come true: soaring through the air. The best known of them are Park City (Utah), Iron Mountain (Michigan), where the men's COC will take part in February (20th to 22nd) and Brattleboro (Vermont), host for FC competitions.
While ski jumping was broadcast in the States in the 80s, the attention of media faded in the following years. While thousands of spectators viewed national competitions in the past, most of the frequented jumps are decayed today.
Video of the American Nationals in 1962:
“Up until the late 80’s the United States had fielded a competitive team with notable standouts including a few world records and some outstanding World Cup finishes [editor's note: for example Mike Holland, WC debut: 1982, retired: 1991, who made it to the podium five times].
As the 90’s approached, those who were the backbone of the team went into retirement and since then the United States has struggled at times to field a team that threatened the world’s elite jumpers.”, writes Nick Alexander.
Nick Fairall tells: “One of my big goals is producing good results internationally to help ski jumping grow in the US, it's a small sport – so I hope to help it grow attention.”
Nick Alexander continues: “However, things are starting to change. As a new crop of jumpers threatens to win international competitions, our funding could improve. In the meantime, each team member is responsible for most of his expenses. United States Ski Jumping (USASJ) has stepped in to fill the gap with a coaching staff and some travel support”.
Regarding this also big attention goes to the female US athletes, as Lindsey Van became first World Champion in ski jumping in 2009 additionally to being four-time national champion and Sarah Hendrickson became first World Cup winner in the 2011/12 season, as well as World Champion in 2013. Until today she celebrated 13 World Cup victories. Also Jessica Jerome has a really successful career as five-time national Champion and numerous podiums in the ladies COC.
American TV channel broadcast skiflying from Kulm in 1986:
USA's athletes need to raise money every year to be able to compete in international competitions.
“It's expensive to travel, the athletes have to take a lot of those expenses themselves. As results start coming we hopefully will find sponsors to support us. It's a lot more money going out than coming in. Everything we earn goes back to ski jumping. So we hopefully find supporters, who are willing to donate to our team.”, says Nick Fairall.
Because of this it's already the third year since USASJ, as the organization founded in 2010 is named officially, started their story project. For this Jeff Hastings, former Olympian, who missed the bronze medal by just 0.2pts in the 1984 Olympics, collected 31 amazingly inspiring, funny and emotional stories in December 2014 to celebrate their official ski jumping month. Sharing those stories from athletes, former ski jumpers, fans and coaches of all ages, genders and locations helped them raising money to support national programs as well as their athletes on international ground.
-If you would like to donate as well, you can still do it here. Also small donations are appreciated!
We'd like to share a few stories of their project, that really moved us.
* Hope Krueger of the Norge Ski Club in Cary, Illinois: The little girl, who is now 10 years old, was born premature and suffered a stroke, which means one side of her body was entirely paralyzed and she couldn't walk or talk until she was three. Last year she started ski jumping and absolutely loves it!
“My mom said, “What parent would ever let their child jump off those rickety wooden structures?”...and I started ski-jumping the very next week! I love ski-jumping because it's fun and I love the feeling of flying off the jump and through the air. I can't wait to get on the 40M soon, and then on the 70M by next year. I want to keep flying forever!”
You see: If you only believe it, everything is possible!
*The Gundry Family (Eli, Stewart & Logan) of the Flying Eagles Club in Fall Creek, Wisconsin: The youngest of three brothers, Eli, 7.5 years old, faced the 30M jump last summer and wasn't confident enough to go down this big jump for the first time- Nick Alexander supported him and became his idol.
“Olympian Nick Alexander helped me. He held me in the tracks for a long time and told me I could do it, he told me it . When I was ready, he let go and I jumped it.”
Now he loves to jump on this hill. Last week he won the Minnesota Ski-Jumping Classic Tournament in Minneapolis in his age group.
*Clint Jones of the Steamboat Winter Sports Club in Park City, Utah – one of the best ski-jumpers team USA has seen and now head coach of the men's team: He shared a story of traveling to Sochi in 2013- as a US ski-jumper and coach you travel a lot but you do not see your home and family often.
“We arrived at the plane, and quickly boarded to a very interesting scene. The back 10 rows were without seats. In their place, the ski and wax equipment of all the teams were stacked high. The rest of the plane was full of the who's who of both men's and women's ski jumping. ….I saw a bright light flash, and an immediate bang. The lights flickered and the plane shook. We realized that
the plane had just been stuck by lightning.”
“We US guys are away from home for a very long time. We definitely get homesick, I get homesick at times. I love going home but I also want ski jumping.”, tells Nick Fairall.
Will Roads adds: “I wanna compete with all the best in the world- Schlierenzauer, Prevc, you know.”
All 148 shared stories of USASJ's project can be found here. - Have a look, you'll find a lot to smile and think about.
We're sure, the US athlete's passion and love for this sport will bring ski jumping in the US back to old fame. We want to close with a quote by Anders Johnson: “Ski jumping is the most amazing sport ever. My advice for young jumpers: Work hard, don't give up on your dreams. It takes a lot longer than you think, so be patient.”
Editor's note: All interviews were taken at the SGP final and season opening in Klingenthal in 2014.
We would like to take the chance to wish Nick Fairall a speedy recovery!
by Peggy Kierstan
