Welcome to the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Val di Fiemme!

Welcome to the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Val di Fiemme!

18/02/2013 22:04

The FIS Nordic Ski World Championships will start on Wednesday in Fiemme and for Italy this might be a good opportunity to increase the popularity of ski jumping.

Unlike what happens in the biggest part of European countries, in fact, where it is the most important and famous winter sport together with biathlon, in Italy ski jumping is followed by a small minority of “die hard” fans. Among the other people, many of them have never heard about it. Hosting a competition of this level could grow the interest for the discipline, also considering that Italy has good chances to win medals in the mixed team competition and in the individual women race, with Evelyn Insam and Elena Runggaldier above all. The biggest “handicap” which the diffusion of ski jumping suffers is a heavy lack of tradition. In countries like Austria, Germany, Norway and many more, this sport is lived like a sort of religion: the attention of the medias, the big number of athletes, hills and structures… and it has always been like this. In Italy, though, ski jumping is a marginal sport, which has space only on the web and dedicated magazines and is practised by few people. Moreover, football absorbes the majority of mediatic attention and only few sports (as, for example, motorsport, basketball and alpine skiing) can find their space and brake this hegemony.

Even if it’s really not easy, we hope people will take the opportunity of hosting the World Championships to discover this discipline, which has so much to give in terms of show, results and achievements.

Ski Jumping Italy will do his part!

Edoardo Vercellesi (@edoverce97)