Kulm 16 January 2016: 22-year-old Johann André Forfang is taking part in his very first WC in ski flying. This is what he has dreamed of since he was a child. Flying down the hill, on a cloud of buoyancy. But a few days before, another ski jumper had been seriously injured on the same hill, and hours before Forfang was to jump for a WC medal, he had seen his teammate Kenneth Gangnes fall badly. Now it was his turn. – That’s what has driven me since I started skiing, to jump further and further and push my own limits. It is in ski flying that we get to do it now that we are adults, to chase that feeling. It’s the childish thing that wakes up in me every time we jump ski-fly. Tromsøværingen jumped far, but then things went wrong. – I am very surprised every time I see the jump that I still have my knees intact. Forfang rose after his fall. The Austrian Lukas Müller did not. Lukas Müller immediately noticed that something was wrong after the fall in Kulm. Photo: Sepp Pail / Kronen Zeitung – I felt it right away A few days before Forfang’s fall in Kulm, a group of test jumpers were on the ground. Among them was the 23-year-old Austrian Lukas Müller. He had long been a promising ski jumper, but the competition in the Austrian team was extremely tough. Being given the opportunity to be a trial jumper in the monster hill was an offer he did not hesitate to accept. – My aim was to set a new personal record, which was then 220 metres. I knew that it was definitely possible with a good jump, says Müller. – My first jump was exactly 200 meters, but another had jumped 229. I thought I had to do better than that, but then something happened that made everything different than I had imagined. Müller had a good feeling when he left the jump edge at over 100 km/h. He thought this might go a long way, but for some reason the shoe on his left foot wasn’t properly attached. He sensed that something was wrong, but still tried to complete the jump. There was no chance. At the time, he was 7-8 meters above the ground and the speed was still high. The meeting with the runaway was brutal. – I was lying at the bottom of the hill and looked down at my feet. I wanted to turn over on my stomach and stand up, but I couldn’t. And I thought, what the f…happened now? Several of the other test jumpers came running over and asked how it was going and if he was in pain. The answer they got was short and brutal: “I have no feelings in my legs”. One of them clutched his head in despair and turned and left. Already at this point, Müller was preparing for the fact that he would never be able to walk again. – This is your new birthday. He was taken to hospital and operated on for two fractures in his neck. After 15 hours in a coma, he was woken up and met by a doctor who gave him a message he will never forget. – The whole room shook, but the doctor in front of me was completely calm so I realized that there was no earthquake – it was the medicines that did it. Then I asked him, “Am I paralyzed?”. He said yes, and this was one of those moments that brought tears to my eyes. It was obviously a difficult message to receive, says Müller. – Then the doctor made a clever “move”. He said that after all I had a working head and hands, and with that you can live quite normally. This is your starting capital. Consider it a new birthday from now on. Everything you can do from now on is like a victory. And Lukas Müller has really done what he can to make the best of a seemingly hopeless situation. He trains hard every day. Although he will always be dependent on the wheelchair, Müller has trained so well that he is able to get up on his feet. Even if it’s just for a few seconds at a time. And Müller keeps in touch with the show jumping community. He has traveled to this year’s WC in Kulm to cheer on his former teammates. Among them Stefan Kraft and Michael Hayboeck, who are both in the favorite tier at home. – It’s a bit strange that they fight for the most prestigious titles, while I have to watch from a wheelchair. But it is first and foremost nice to have friends who are now the world’s best ski jumpers. Lukas Müller himself will never jump on skis again, but he misses the feeling of flying and would not have hesitated if given the opportunity. – Give me a healthy body and a pair of skis and I’m ready! Marius Lindvik soars down the hill in Vikersund and becomes world champion in 2022. Photo: NTB – “Everyone” dreams of flying Tommy Langseth is a sociologist and has done a lot of research in, among other things, the base jumping and freeskiing environment to find out why someone is willing to expose themselves to danger when practicing their sport or hobby. He believes there are several similarities between this type of activity and ski flying. “Doing things that are dangerous is something that has value. In other words, it gives a form of “creed”, says Tommy Langseth. Photo: USN, the University of Southeast Norway – There are several things that make someone choose to put themselves in danger in the pursuit of a special experience. It could be genetics. Some like to do exciting activities more than others, and genetics helps to determine that, says Langseth. – And then you have the so-called “floating experience”, which for the jumpers is the feeling of flying. A type of experience that is all-consuming. Which makes you blend in with your surroundings and just be, he continues. But what Langseth has looked at the most are the social mechanisms that contribute to people doing dangerous things. – When you enter an environment, you learn what has value in that culture. In ski jumping, perhaps the highest value is to jump far, but it is possibly about more than that. World record holder Stefan Kraft barely manages to stay on his feet after jumping 249 meters in Vikersund, March 2023. Photo: Geir Olsen / NTB Langseth emphasizes that he has not researched ski jumping, but he believes that showing that you are a little “Crazy” and willing to push the limits has value in the show jumping environment. Just like in the base jumping and freeskiing environment. – Doing things that are dangerous is something that has value. So, it gives a form of “creed”. – I think this can apply to a certain extent in ski jumping. That it’s a bit cool to be a bit crazy and push the limits, and it’s not just to win and get the farthest. – Hard to put into words… Bischofshofen 5 January 2024: Exactly 8 years after the fall in Kulm, Johann André Forfang is sitting in a hotel in Bischofshofen, Austria. He is in what has been a frustrating jump week. He is far from fighting for an overall victory in the given tournament. But when we take out a PC and say we’re going to talk about the Ski Flying WC in Kulm in 2016, he lights up with a big smile. He knows well what it is we are going to see. There are several reasons why he can’t help but grin widely when he watches the jump again. Both because it was a fantastic jump that really gave him the feeling of flying, but also because of the immediate reaction on the plain. After rolling around in a cloud of snow, he jumped up and cheered wildly and unrestrained. – The only thing I thought about when I was rolling on the plain there was, f … that was a fat jump! My body began to tremble even before I had landed, the joy in my body explodes long before I hit the ground. The adrenaline you get when you almost die like that, it’s hard to put into words. Johann André Forfang fell, but still cheered at the WC in ski flying 2016. Photo: Skjermdump, news Eventually Forfang was able to take a run, then he felt that his whole body hurt and that he had no chance to jump again that day . The last round was anyway canceled due to bad conditions, thus Forfang finished in 4th place. – When I think back, I would rather have that medal. When Daniel-André Tande was about to do one of his wildest ski jumps ever, it went horribly wrong. Those close to him feared that Daniel would die. Although things can go horribly wrong in some cases, fortunately it is not often that serious injuries or even worse, deaths occur in ski flying. During the WC in 2016, a tender Forfang got a new opportunity the next day. Then he jumped the team competition for Norway and became world champion. TEAM GOLD: The Norwegian team could cheer for WC gold in the team competition. From left: Daniel-André Tande, Kenneth Gangnes (with his back to), Anders Fannemel and Johann André Forfang. Photo: Reuters Watch the WC in ski flying on NRK1 and NRKTV from Friday.
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Both wanted to jump down the hill. For one of them it was the last jump of his life – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
