The shortest jump in jumping history. The weirdest hill. Miracles happen there [WIDEO]

With the cancellation of Tuesday’s competition at Bergisel in the coming days, the jumpers and fans will have an almost cinematic “Groundhog Day”. From Wednesday to Sunday, the World Cup will be competed on Paul Ausserlaitner’s hill in. First, we have a trial series, qualifications and a competition moved from Innsbruck to us on Wednesday. And on Thursday in Bischofshofen the 4-Hills-Tournament (qualification and competition) will end. As if that were not enough, there will be two previously planned competitions at the weekend. On Saturday – individual and on Sunday – team competitions.

The weirdest hill in the World Cup calendar. It could get dangerous

So the jumpers will have a lot of time to adapt to this by far the strangest hill in the whole World Cup calendar. Why the strangest? The ski jump at Bischofshofen is the facility with the longest inrun hill among large hills. Here, the inrun can be as much as 118.5 meters, although after the reconstruction in 2003, it was shortened from as much as 149 meters. The inrun is therefore not much shorter than that on Letalnica in Planica (123.8 m), and this is even 250 meters. Why is this happening?

The final TCS hill is a natural hill which is very flattened in the upper phase. Therefore, players need much more time to accelerate. According to the FIS documents, the inrun slope in Bischofshofen is only 27 degrees. For comparison, the steep uphill run in Lahti has a slope of 39 degrees and there, after about three seconds, the jumper reaches full speed (about 89 km / h). It is different here.

The jumpers have to switch quickly, because on Monday they jumped on Bergisel, where the inrun slope is as high as 35 degrees. This completely changes the rhythm of the run-up. Due to the low inclination, the jumper cannot rely on the traditional feeling of tension in the thighs that occurs with the so-called steep and short “passes”. That is, where the inrun begins to flatten out. The tension causes the jumper to kick back almost automatically, because the force itself pushes him away.

And on the threshold you have to be double-minded. The inrun track on the hill ends about 2.5 meters before the end of the concrete takeoff, this makes the jumpers’ skis almost touch the concrete inrun.

Concrete threshold behind the inrun track screen Eurosport YT

Recently, there has been a discussion about Slatnar’s flat boards. Theoretically, this ski should come out of the takeoff more flat than others, but one of the dangers indicated by the trainers is that the lack of a raised tip in the worst case can cause the board just outside the threshold to catch too much air and the jumper may begin to dive quickly. And here another danger lurks, because in Bischofshofen, behind the inrun track, the jumper still has about two meters of concrete wall below him, into which the skis could hit. It is practically impossible, the chances are probably only mathematical. But who before Oberstdorf thought that a ski could stick into the snow and break the jumper out of the bindings?

The shortest ski jump ever? 4.5 meter slide

However, there were two jumpers close to such an event, who can speak of great luck. In January 2012, very difficult conditions prevailed during the qualification for the final TCS competition. Wet snow sealed the inrun track, and more and more competitors had more and more problems in the inrun. Miran Tepes and Walter Hofer did not stop the competition, however, and pressed for its end and … it was very close to an accident. First, Stephan Hocke landed in the so-called in the garden (i.e. on spruce cetines arranged in the pattern of the Bischofshofen club logo). After a while, the son – Yuri hit even worse. The jumper braked strongly during the inrun several times. He lost his balance so much that he even gave up his breakout and wanted to be at the bottom of the hill as soon as possible. Effect? Thundering. The Slovenian jump can be considered one of the shortest in the history of the Cup. Officially, the FIS measurement measured him 60 meters, but only because the measuring cameras do not reach higher. It was actually about 25-30 meters! Such distances in the World Cup do not actually happen. Only Takanobu Okabe in Kuopio made a very similar jump in 2000. After the jump, Yuri had a huge grudge against his father, and it was hardly surprising.

In Bischofshofen, therefore, the jumpers must, above all, keep a special concentration and … not forget about the breakout. The very flat inrun means that the rider spends a lot of time in the inrun position and if he misses the right moment, the jump can be very late. And that could end up not only in a bad jump, but maybe even more seriously. In Bischofshofen there is plenty to fall off of, as the take-off is 4.5 meters high. Seen from the front, it looks more like a garage. And it plays a similar role, because it houses, among others, a warehouse.

Strange events are the norm here

The hill in Bischofshofen is famous for its bizarre situations, so the organizers decided to protect themselves from danger and an angled wall is attached to the edge of the threshold, which is to act as an emergency slide. There are mattresses at the bottom. If any of the jumpers were to lose their balance on the inrun and slide off the threshold.

Aleksander Zniszczoł, who was close to a bizarre accident in the 2014/2015 season, was close to using the security measures. At the moment when the jumper pushed off the beam, his shoe rubbed against the low starting gate. He lost his balance on the invasion and had to prop himself up with his hands. And it was only due to a slight slope of the in-run that it was able to return to the inrun position again. It would be gliding downhill on all the other hills, but not on skis at all.

A double jump that has gone down in history

Other very strange things were also happening in Bischofshofen. The older jumping fans surely remember the events of 2003 very well. Then one of the pre-jumpers made a big sensation. It was a young Thomas Thurnbichler. The 14-year-old Austrian made use of the old profile of the facility and when he landed his jump after about 40 meters, he bounced again from the forward bulge of the hill and once again, to the delight of the audience, he flew into the air.

The old facility had a very specific profile, which is why this type of maneuver was extremely simple and, moreover, often practiced by younger players during training. After the summer modernization in 2003, however, the bula was changed. The hill was also slightly enlarged and the K-point was moved from 120 to 125 meters.

Thomas Thurnbichler did not make a great career in ski jumping. His greatest success should be called the bronze medal at the 2007 World Junior Championships in Tarvisio. He was also a two-time gold medalist of the World Championships in the team. Stefan Thurnbichler’s brother has recently been working as a coach and since spring 2021 the 33-year-old has been assistant to Andreas Widhoelzl in the Austrian national team.

The hill also has its darker face

On January 5, 1952 an event related to the history of ski jumping took place. The day before the traditional Epiphany competition, a training session was organized on the Hochkönig hill in Bischofshofen. This one turned out to be very unlucky for the Austrian champion from 1949 – then 27-year-old Paul Ausserleitner. The Austrian suffered a very serious fall. He suffered a lot of pain and was taken to hospital, where he died after four days. Ausserleitner, however, was known for his great passion for ski jumping. In Bischofshofen he organized numerous competitions, he wanted to popularize ski jumping in his region. Were it not for the fact that he died on January 9, he would certainly have taken part in the May talks regarding the attempt to organize the first 4-Hills-Tournament, because he was his great supporter. However, this did not happen, but in his honor the Hochkönig hill was named after Paul Ausserleitner and that name is still used by everyone today.

Two falls in one day of a wheelchair

A very serious accident also happened on January 5, 2015. Then the American Nicholas Fairall suffered a dramatic accident. The jumper fell twice in one day, but this second fall changed his life forever. The competitor lost control of his skis and his body flew forward, curling up to his feet as it were. The jumper suffered a very large spine injury, which made him now move in a wheelchair. He has never returned to ski jumping in any way, but since the end of 2015 he has been practicing water skiing for the disabled.

“I still have the feeling he felt pain after the first fall, but he wouldn’t tell me anything.” He was convinced that he might have a great result and … it happened again, he fell just the same. It was the second most difficult moment in my life after my father died. After this fall of Nick, I could not work normally until the end of the season – this is how Bine Norici, the coach of the US-Canadian team, described the events from seven years ago in Sport.pl.