This week we're taking a closer look at:

• Zak Mogel (23) - 51st place in 2023/24 WC, 28 points
• Remo Imhof (20) - 50th place in 2023/24 WC, 30 points, 37th place in 4H
• Constantin Schmid (24) - 49th place in 2023/24 WC, 39 points

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• Pauline Heßler (25) - 45th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 21 points
• Ingvild Synnøve Midtskogen (16) - 44th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 22 points (first career points), 35th place in RA
• Jessica Malsiner (21) - 43rd place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 23 points, 34th place in RA

Going to be producing a documentary about winter sports and looking at a good ski jumping that operates in the summer where athletes are training. Initially I was slated to go to Lake Placid but after crunching the numbers and dealing with logistics, it doesn’t seem appealing to my budget. For instance, getting to the ski jump complex would require me to fly to Albany from California at a cost of $500ish round trip. Add on another $500 for a rental car for a week, plus the 2+ hour drive each way… just doesn’t seem worth it when I can take a flight to Oslo or Innsbruck for a little more and not have to worry about driving and can rely on public transportation.

So I’m putting it out to the group for advice: which would be a great venue to visit and film the ski jumpers? Bonus points if there’s also a bobsled track nearby. Oslo (and take the train to Lillehammer?), Innsbruck? Winsport in Calgary?

This week we're taking a closer look at:

• Robin Pedersen (27) - 53rd place in 2023/24 WC, 24 points, 11th place in Ski Flying WC
• Eetu Nousiainen (27 - today's his birthday!) - 53rd place in 2023/24 WC, 24 points, 38th place in Ski Flying WC, 40th place in 4H, 41st in RA
• Simon Ammann (42) - 52nd place in 2023/24 WC, 27 points, 28th place in Ski Flying WC, 32nd place in 4H

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• Klara Ulrichova (19) - 48th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 16 points, 43rd place in RA
• Emma Chervet (20) - 47th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 18 points (first career points), 46th place in RA
• Qi Liu (28) - 46th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 19 points

This week we're taking a closer look at:

• Kasperi Valto (20) - 57th place in 2023/24 WC, 12 points (first career points), 41st place in 4H, 46th place in RA

• Naoki Nakamura (27) - 56th place in 2023/24 WC, 15 points

• Maciej Kot (32) - 55th place in 2023/24 WC, 21 points, 43th place in 4H, 31st place in RA

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• Kurumi Ichinohe (19) - 50th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 8 points, 42nd place in RA

• Anna Twardosz (23) - 50th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 8 points, 44th place in RA

• Paige Jones (21) - 49th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 9 points, 48th place in RA,

This was reported by Yle: https://yle.fi/a/74-20084875

Basically the Ski Federation has adviced coaches to "secure their finances some other way". The Federation is in such a bad financial shape that they cannot sign new work contracts. This means that the whole team will be basically on a pause, because the contracts typically expire at the end of the season.

This week we're taking a closer look at:

- Fredrik Villumstad (25) - 58th place in 2023/24 WC, 10 points, 32nd place in RA

- Noriaki Kasai (51) - 58th place in 2023/24 WC, 10 points, 38th place in Ski Flying World Cup, 45th place in RA

- Maksim Bartolj (20) - 58th place in 2023/24 WC, 10 points, 36th place in Ski Flying World Cup,

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- Qingyue Peng (19) - 53rd place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 5 points

- Ringo Miyajima (20) - 53rd place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 5 points

- Sina Arnet (18) - 52nd place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 7 points, 39th place in RA,

Der Deutsche Skiverband (DSV) hat die Bundestrainer-Posten für den kommenden Skisprung-Winter verkündet: Stefan Horngacher hat um ein weiteres Jahr verlängert, Heinz Kuttin übernimmt künftig die Rolle als Chefcoach der Frauen.

Michal Doležal verlässt Trainerteam Trainer Michal Doležal, der seit 2021 das Team um Stefan Horngacher (Bundestrainer), Andreas Mitter und Paul Winter verstärkte, wird den DSV zum Saisonende auf eigenen Wunsch verlassen. Wer Michal Doležal folgt, wird sich in den nächsten Wochen entscheiden.

The German Ski Association (DSV) has announced the national coaching positions for the coming ski jumping winter: Stefan Horngacher has extended the contract for another year, and Heinz Kuttin will take on the role of women's head coach in the future.

Michal Doležal leaves the coaching team Coach Michal Doležal, who has strengthened the team around Stefan Horngacher (national coach), Andreas Mitter and Paul Winter since 2021, will leave the DSV at his own request at the end of the season. Who will follow Michal Doležal will be decided in the next few weeks.

https://deutscherskiverband.de/detail_news_de,500,1426356,detail.html

This week we're taking a closer look at:

- Andrew Urlaub (22) - 63rd place in 2023/24 WC, 4 points

- Ziga Jelar (26) - 62nd place in 2023/24 WC, 7 points

- Valentin Foubert (21) - 61st place in 2023/24 WC, 8 points (first career points), 53rd place in 4H

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- Samantha Macuga (23) - 57th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 2 points

- Jerica Jesenko (18) - 56th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 3 points

- Alvine Holz (19) - 55th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 4 points

Surprise!

I've worked extra hard to gather all your answers and here we are. I'm gonna pat myself on the back for doing it this quick.

Anyways, here are the results for our 2024 census:

https://imgur.com/a/1lMXzQ1

This week we're taking a closer look at:

- Taku Takeuchi (36) - 67th place in 2023/24 WC, 2 points

- Keichii Sato (26) - 64th place in 2023/24 WC, 3 points

- Fatih Arda Ipcioglu (26) - 64th place in 2023/24 WC, 3 points

- Andrea Campregher (22) - 64th place in 2023/24 WC, 3 points

- Veronika Jencova (20) - 58th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 1 point

- Martina Ambrosi (22) - 58th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 1 point

- Pia Lilian Kuebler (21) - 58th place in 2023/24 Women's WC, 1 point

How are winners and Losers of the Season?

I'll start with my list for the women, feel free to add your lists (men or women)

Winners

Eirin Maria Kavandal: despite landing problems, she achieved many victories this year and remained injury-free. Plus the victory at the Raw air!

Nika Prevc: It was clear that she was to be expected in the future, but that she would win the GWC this year was not expected. Strong!

Jaqui Seifriedsberger - moved up to the top of the world in her old age and won her first victory in 10 years!

Josephine Pagnier: Even though her high flight only lasted a few weeks, it was still her breakthrough and she achieved the first win of her career.

Jenny Rautionaho: Her breakthrough into the top. The first podium for Finland in many years!

Silje Opseth: She was actually looking like one of the losers of the season, fell short of expectations and even got stuck in the 1st round at times. But towards the end of the season she got better. And her outstanding performance in ski flying at the end was legendary: she fell a world record distance and then, with a battered face, simply jumped the world record again “like a boxer.”

​

Loosers

the German team: almost everyone fell short of expectations. The change of coach (or what preceded it?) shortly before the start of the season probably didn't do any good. The driving horses Katha Schmid and Selina Freitag in particular were usually far away from the top

the "old" Slovenians: in the last years they were dominating, this year the performances of Kriznar and Klinec were mixed. The rest was also pretty poor, except for Nik Prevc of course.

the Japanese team: there were no big successes, Ito and Takanashi were mixed, no new talents in sight

Maren Lundby: First cancelled individual competitions, then gave up completely. For someone who demands equal pay for women, that's a pretty poor number.

Poland: In recent years it seemed as if something was slowly happening among women in Poland. But this year nothing happened: the best jumpers quit in frustration and the mood in the team was said to be really bad. So far, no new talent has come along. Poland a total failure.

Because Work i Just became to Watch the recorded last Day of Planica now. When He sat on the bar and the Comm. Just Said "we Stay quite next Seconds, Peter Just send it and enjoy Last Flight" and crowd Just went extatic after landing this was for me the Most extreme, the most intense (Just stealin' it from RAW Air xD)

Again, Hvala Peter ...

It's that time of year again...

The 45th edition of the men's Ski Jumping World Cup has come and gone and so with the traditional ceremonies of Planica behind us, it's time to reflect.

Here in part 1 of this review I'll be discussing a few storylines that have characterised this season and try to form a picture of what this winter was. Part 2 will be a ranking of each country that took part in the WC, it will be similiar to a post I did after the 4-Hills tournament. Hence storylines like Poland's struggles or Granerud's catasstrophic WC defense will be covered there.

Enjoy!

Stefan Kraft

Let's begin with the champion, shall we? He won everything this season beside the Golden Eagle. And he did it in dominant fashion too, winning 13 WC competitions. Kraft had that aura about him this season, that one where - if you're not rooting for him - you know that he'll break your heart and somehow beat your jumpers' best shot (I'm a Kobayashi fan, trust me, I know).

If he wasn't there already (and I think he already was), he's definitely now joined the club of the absolute greatest to ever do it. He's broken Ahonen's podium record and is just 3 wins away from the GOAT Matti Nykänen. And he's just 30!

And that potentially leaves us with a yet unpreceted situation. If Kraft has a great 24/25 and wins a 4th Crystal Globe (surely beating Nykänen's win total in the process), then Nykänen's GOAT status, that's been pretty unquestioned up to this point, might be in the air.

Ryoyu Kobayashi

Who else could be the 2nd subject of this post? Come on now.

Look, as a Kobayashi fan, I'm going to keep it real. This season was frustrating. Winning the Golden Eagle with only 2nd places, yeah that shit was cute. All the others? Don't remind me. And most of these he lost by like 0.0003 points. Just...* internal screaming*

Austria's dominance

It wasn't just Kraft that was firing on all cylinders. Every competition it felt like another Austrian would be on the podium or at least the top 5. Hörl was always a podium threat, Fettner, Hayböck & Tschofenig supplied plenty of top 10's and if that wasn't enough, Huber has just gone beast mode in the final month of the season and won the small crystal globe.

To me it feels like we're at the brink of another Austrian dynasty. With a great mix of veterans and youngsters this group will be ruling ski jumping for a while I think.

Pius Paschke's 1st win

Not a whole lot of us expected to ever see Pius Paschke as the winner of a WC competition. Yet in Engelberg, the German shocked us with an emotional victory, becoming the oldest 1st time winner. I already wrote in detail about Paschke's career and the symbolism of his win, so I'll just say it was on the my favorite moments of the season.

The Stöckl drama

This wasn't a good season (and especially the 1st half) for Norway. Nevertheless, no one expected the mess that would unfold. The jumpers basically organized a mutiny and it looks like they succeded. Furthermore, Brathen is gone now too. Norway is approaching unfamiliar territory after the unprecedented stabilty they've had for so long just a year away from the Ski Championships in Trondheim. For the time being we're left wondering who will take charge of Norway before a crucial season for Norway.

Forfang's arc

Speaking of which, the jumpers' spokesperson in this conflict had a hell of a season. It was a classic start for Forfang. Generally mid, but sometimes would show one great jump and then choke with the next. But finally in Willingen (funnily enough the 1st competition without Stöckl) he finally came through and won with that incredibly satisfying 155.5m flight. He followed that with a victory at home in Hollmenkollen, saving Norway's honor this season.

Noriaki Kasai's return

He's 51! How does he do it?! The legend of Kasai has grown even further. He didn't just score at home in Sapporo, but also in Lahti and the flying hills in Vikersund & Planica. At this point, nothing this man does suprises me. He should really be a worldwide star, not just in the Ski Jumping community. Hats off to the legend.

Peter Prevc's Planica farewell victory

The Greatest Slovenian Ski Jumper in history had decided to call it quits at just 31 in a middle of a solid, in unspectacular season. but from that moment, it seems he dropped all weight from his shoulders and he's started to soar. 4 2nd places followed and we all started dreaming that Peter would be able to win at his home turf. And indeed, just the day after his sister Nika officially became World Cup champion herself, Peter delivered an iconic victory in His Letalnica hill. Everone liked that. Hell, Jernej Damjan on the Eurosport broadcast sounded like he was about to cry. It was a beautiful moment the likes which we see so rarely. I think when people will ask me in the future about this season, the 1st picture that will come to mind will be that of Peter being paraded around by his teammates after winning.

Continental Cup risers

One of my favorite part of the Ski Jumping season is looking at the COC and see those guys move up to the big stage, even if for just a little while. I want to dedicate this part to some of the guys who started the winter in the COC and eventually made noise in the WC.

Aleksander Zniszczol: Poland's number 1 jumper. Try telling that someone 12 months ago. He did start his winter in the WC but after 2 weekends with no points he was sent down. 2 2nd places later and he returned for the 4-Hills tournament, where he finished a solid 20th. After a good Polish Tour, he truly made himself known. In both competitions he was in a podium position but both times had to settle for 8th. His patience would be rewarded in Lahti, where the Pole finished on the podium for the first time in his life, in the last competition before his 30th birthday. He was Poland's clear number 1 and finished the season with more points than he had in all his previous seasons' combined.

Benjamin Østvold: The 22/23 winter COC champion got 18 WC opportunities. He was quite inconsistent, failing to score in 9 of those competitions (and sometimes not even qualifying). But it was also a season of many highs. A 10th in Sapporo, 11th in Trondheim, 12th in Bischofshofen & 13th in Willingen showed his great potential. He already flew in the final Planica competition. He's just 23, so it's just the beginning. He's a breakout candidate for next winter for sure.

Stephan Embacher: We didn't see a whole lot of this year's Junior World Champion, but what we did see..Wow. In 5 competitions he got a 10th and 3 13th places. For an 18 year old, that's just crazy. He's another obvious breakout candidate.

Robert Johansson: Before this season, the Norweigan's last performance in the COC was in 2016. It was a difficult adjustment period as in 17 starts, he failed to get on the podium. But when he did get a shot in the WC, he was pretty good. Most notably, he finished 5th twice during Raw Air and managed to fly in the Planica finale, not bad considering his limited usage, though of course he'll look to be in the A team full-time next season.

Robin Pedersen: Robin caught fire in January, during which he won 4 COC events. This earned the 27 year old a trip to his 1st major event, the Ski Flying World Championships. There, he finished in a brilliant 11th place, surely the greatest achievement of his career. Afterwards though, he regressed to a spot at the edge and sometimes out of the points. While he finished with only 24 points, his Championship result was a pleasant surprise.

Felix Hoffmann: Despite being already 26, this was the first time the German appeared in more than 4 WC competitions. He was part of the team during february, improving his career best to 11th in Lake Placid.

Weak nations rise

After the 1st competition of the season, I predicted in the thread that this would be a good season for the weaker ski jumping countries. I'm happy to report that proved to be true. I'll be doing a more detailed write-up of each country in part 2, but still I'd like to give an overview of some of the successes that the weaker teams have achieved.

Switzerland was back on the podium and for the first 1/3 or so of the season, they were legit beating Poland. That couldn't last but it was still a good sign. Italy & USA both assembled strong duos capable of scoring top 20's pretty regularly. It seems the US partnership with Norway in paying off. Niko Kytösaho's 7th place in Kulm was the best Finnish result in a long while. Roman Koudelka has rejuvenated every Czech fan when he gave us 2 top 10's, something thought unthinkable. Yevhen Marusiak has already estabilished himself as the best jumper in Ukranian history probably lol. Hell, even France scored points for the 1st time in 5(?) years.

Conclusion

I think we witnessed a remarkable season with many wonderful stories to follow, big and small, some I've not even covered in detail here (like Kos' first wins, Raimund's Lake Placid weekend, my boy Aigner finishing 8th in the 4-Hills and many others). One word I'd describe this season with woulde be dynamic. Besides the steady Kraft, there was constant shuffling of the order at the top. Germany had an awesome start and then fell off. Slovenia then had a great february with 3 individual wins and a superteam victory in Oberstdorf. Even Norway improved in the late stage of the winter and won the team competition in Lahti. This constant change throughout a winter is one my favorite parts of Ski Jumping and I believe we saw a lot of it in 2023/24.

So that's all for now. What did y'all think of the 2023/24 season?