Ski Jumping World Cup: Towards the Olympics

Poland

It was a bit of a disappoinment when so many jumpers missed out on Zakopane. Only four of the top 10 of the World Cup were there. 53 jumpers in the qualifiers.

Domen only 8th in the first training round. Only the third Slovenian, so he won't make it to the super team, right? Domen first in the second training round.

Domen only 10th in the qualifiers, and only the third Slovenian. At what point did those super teams have to be chosen?

Domen not in the team, quite a scandal. On the other hand, does he need a rest? Later it turned out that Domen wanted a rest himself. Wellinger also wasn't in the team, so a competition without my favorites. So I chose the right day to drink. Qualifying winner Fettner didn't make it to the Austrian team. The expectation is an overwhelming victory for Austria.

"Will Poland make it to the podium?"

The expected victory for Austria and second place for Slovenia, Poland third.

 

 

Sunday

Preliminary information from Poland said that it would snow and be windy. Domen won the trial round.

Viaplay didn't show the race on TV, but luckily it was on Yle.

Domen 12th after the first round, so those dreams were shattered. Wellinger 16th, only a point and a half behind Domen, and actually a longer jump.

Wellinger 22nd, Domen 27th. That's when you know it's going badly when you lose to Wellinger. Anze won, so a Slovenian again.

Is Poland a shit country?

 

 

Japan

Domen second in qualifying after Roju. Wellinger not in. His time for the Olympics is running out.

Saturday's race started at 8:15 a.m. my time, and I was woken up appropriately, after five hours of sleep.

Domen won with a superior second-round jump, even though his shoe broke. I did wonder what kind of piece was fluttering there.

"Even before landing, the zipper on one of his shoes broke, which made it very difficult to complete the jump."

"I landed with great force, my shoe came off when I landed."

The TV only managed to record three minutes of the broadcast. Well, Sunday's race is not on TV at all, so I can't complain about the recordings.

 

 

Sunday, 4 am my time

I woke up at exactly 5 am, the second round was just about to start. Of course I didn't know the situation, that Domen was leading after the first round. Domen won the competition, even though the second jump was a horrible looking wobble.

"I mean it was tough, especially because I made a big mistake in the second round where I was a bit too aggressive. I wasn’t able to put the real power in the right direction, so my skis came up a bit too high and I had trouble but fortunately I got lots of wind, which helped with those essential meters."

So Domen won both competitions in Japan, although his shoe broke on Saturday and the second jump failed on Sunday.

In between here, there were, to put it mildly, dramatic World Ski Flying Championships.

 

 

Germany, Willingen

Before Willingen, I was also scared of things outside of ski jumping itself. For example, all that hatred towards the nein nein nein person. He would need a bodyguard.

On Friday, there were a mixed team competition, and I started to wonder if Domen would be on the team. He wasn't on the previous World Cup team competition either.

As I watched the first training round, I started to get scared. The headwind was so strong that the others were jumping 150 meters from platform 4, so Domen would run out of platforms and could have a life-threateningly long jump. I have long been afraid that Domen would get injured before the Olympics. Every jump is a chance to get injured. Domen jumped from platform 2, and only 131 meters, 16th place. Is this Domen's current level, or did he play it safe?

Now it's a bad situation when he runs out of platforms in Willingen. It's not good if Domen (and the others) have to hold back and fear for their lives.

Domen won the second training round, 148 meters, from stage 6 even though there was a lot of headwind.

Domen IS in the team, Wellinger is not. Slovenia wins the one-round mixed team competition, 0.6 points ahead of Germany. Yle Areena didn't show the awards ceremony, boo.

 

 

Saturday

Saturday morning started with the news that the FIS wants to exclude Slovenian ski jumpers from the competition due to hate speech against Germany on social media. Yes, every stone will be turned so that Domen is not allowed to jump. I guess we have to start believing in the German mafia. Are conspiracies always true?

Domen second in qualifying.

Quite a wind lottery in the first round. Domen in the lead after the first round, Wellinger fifth!

For Domen in the second round too long jump 155 meters with a flat-footed descent, ass slanting to the ground. That's exactly what I've been afraid of, an overlong jump, a fall and an injury. What would have happened if he had tried a telemark? So an overwhelming victory for Domen. Wellinger sixth, what a stroke of luck just before the Olympics, from the 2018 Olympic champion.

"At the end, I was thinking about how I would land safely so that everything would be fine. The Olympics are just around the corner and I want to arrive in Predazzo healthy. I did everything I could to land safely."

 

 

 

I could see the victory ceremony, wonderful. Domen seemed to be on the verge of tears on the podium, it must have been a difficult week for him in the shadow of the ski scandal.

One more competition before the Olympics, scary.

 

 

 

Sunday

Domen won the qualification, Wellinger 18th, Timi the first to drop out of the race.

Domen in the lead after the first round, Anze second, the world's best fourth, Wellinger 11th. They still have to survive one more jump before the Olympics.

Domen won by an overwhelming 31.7 points. Wellinger 8th. The award ceremony was not shown, boo.

I had already started thinking about how I could see the award ceremonies at the Olympics. At least not on Yle, but maybe on HBO Max? Or else I just have to hope for the perfect result: Domen first, Wellinger second, a Finn third.

 

 

Scary lump in the mouth

I was in a complete panic when I noticed a hard lump in my mouth. I've had a bone lump in my mouth for decades, but I had no idea what this new lump was.

I had been feeling bad before, and the stress and fear of course only increased the pain and other symptoms. It was hard to even try to focus on anything when I was so scared.

 

 

I knew I should go to the dentist to get a diagnosis. But if I tried to get an appointment from the student health care, it would probably take many months. I noticed that one dentist here had an offer until the end of January, a check-up for 39 euros. I didn't make an appointment at first and they all went by then. But on Wednesday I managed to get a cancellation appointment for Thursday.

As I had hoped, the new mouth lump is a torus, or a bone lump. Since one of my remaining wisdom teeth seems close to the surface, the dentist wanted to take an X-ray, but I refused. I wanted to get by with that 39 euros. I have now been to the dentist and dental hygienist four times in less than a year! The dentist also complained about my dry mouth. I hadn't noticed that before, but I noticed it now when I had a check-up. Could that be due to the approaching menopause?

 

 

The cold also annoys me, I was afraid I would freeze. I have running clothes, yes, but what about so-called better clothes? I don't have a single polo shirt that is long enough to protect not only my neck but also my waist. It's a bit of a shame that I didn't buy one at Citymarket last year when there was a 2 euro offer.

Senseless Domen drama at the Ski Flying World Championships

Ski Flying World Championships, Oberstdorf

Thursday, qualifying

Fortunately, Yle showed the competition, Viaplay did not. My favorite jumper Domen Prevc holds the Oberstdorf hill record. Domen won both training rounds. My other favorite, Andreas Wellinger, was in training but not in the qualifying round, so he did not make it to the German team.

The jury lowered the platform to Domen by three, but Domen still had the longest jump of the qualifying round and won.

Friday, first and second round

"Is Domen Prevc the only one who can beat Domen Prevc in Oberstdorf?" How wrong we were!

Domen was also the best in the trial round with a 21-point difference to the next.

Coach request -5 platforms!! Domen had difficulties in the first jump, a shaky start. Only 204 meters, but still second place after Lindvik. The second jump was only two stages. Domen was in the lead after the first day with 14 points, Ren was second.

Saturday, third and fourth round

Domen won the tailwind test round, 3 stages lower than the others.

Domen had a great jump in the third round, 4 stages lower than the others, almost a 50-point lead before the last round.

Domen won the ski flying world championship by 60 points. His teammates didn't lift Domen up because Domen didn't want to, boo. "Let's save it for tomorrow", wtf? Domen said he wanted to save his suit?

 

 

I didn't see the victory ceremony, boo.

 

 

Sunday, team competition

Wellinger was not selected to the German team.

I didn't expect such drama from the team competition!

While Lindvik was waiting to jump, he complained about something. The reason was revealed... lone skis went down the hill. At first, I thought Lindvik had forgotten to fasten his skis. Did Lindvik make a "Tande"? Then we thought that they had to be a trial jumper's skis. And then the real plot twist... those skis were Domen's! What the hell happened? Was it Domen's carelessness, or did someone throw the skis down the hill? People were shouting sabotage. Even though Domen's spare pair was quickly whisked to the tower, he was ultimately not allowed to jump at all, so Slovenia's chances of a medal were gone. Slovenia claimed in their protest (based on trial jumper's eyewitness account) that someone hit Domen's skis with an umbrella and knocked them down.

Then there was a debate about whether Slovenia would jump in the second round. Out of solidarity for Domen, the others didn't want to jump, but because Domen wanted to jump, they did in the end.

Incredible drama. I laughed even though I should have cried because it was my favorite Domen. And because with worse luck there could have been casualties.

 

 

I was hoping for Japan to win, and fortunately that happened before Austria. A whole new country was added to the group of ski flying world champions. Even without Domen's mess, Slovenia would probably have only finished fourth.

Domen's skis

Fact: Domen put his skis in the wrong place. But the question is why did he do that? According to the rules, there must be a FIS person there who is responsible for holding the skis. But in Domen's case, this was not the case, so he was forced to put his skis somewhere. Because if he hadn't gone to the equipment control, he would have been disqualified.

This is where it happened. The suit control is right before the jump, and after the control, the suit is not allowed to be touched anymore.

 

 

We'll see how this scandal affects Domen, especially in terms of the Olympics. Ever since Domen's season started going so well, I've been hoping for an Olympic victory for him. If that doesn't happen, I'll be disappointed.

This season, Domen would have a unique opportunity to join the rare group of people who have won all five: world championship, world flying championship, 4 hills tournament, Olympic victory, and overall World Cup victory. So far, only one person has been able to win all five, Matti Nykänen.

 

 

 

Ps. best video about Domen's skis