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Women have been taking off on ski jumps since the turn of the millennium, but they are still not allowed to do very big jumps. Although many want! In the new ski jump calendar for next winter, powerful jumps for women are missing.
The Norwegian camp is boiling: “I heard opinions from the Stone Age,” complains Clas Brede Brathen, head of the ski jumping department of the Norwegian Ski Association. The Norwegian newspaper “Verdens Gang” quotes him after the conference on the new World Cup schedule.
Sounds similar with ski jump flyer Maren Lundby (25). The overall winner of the World Cup series and 2018 Olympic gold medalist is disappointed: “People made decisions that they have no idea,” she says in “Dagbladet.”
Women are allowed in normal jumps, where distances of around 100 meters are possible, and in large jumps, where the best jumps are around 140 meters. Only men can enjoy the four approved Monster jumps in Bad Mitterndorf (Ö), Oberstdorf (D), Planica (Sln) and Vikersund (No). Why are women denied 250-meter flights?
“It’s a matter of time”
The simple explanation: risk of injury! The German Ski Association supports a ban on ski jumping for women: “15 to 20 jumpers could already do this,” sports director Horst Hüttel told SID. Big jumps are still too dangerous for less good athletes.
However, it does not stay that way forever. Hüttel adds: “It is definitely only a matter of time before the women go skiing too.”
And perhaps there is still a spark of hope at Lundby & Co that they will sail a quarter of a mile through the air next winter. The ski jumping program will definitely not be approved until May 15. (str)
