Sport in completely new ways?
Powerful ski jumping official pushes crazy plans
January 8, 2024, 7:35 a.m
It’s nothing new that ski jumpers don’t necessarily need snow for their sport. But FIS race director Sandro Pertile thinks even further – and even brings the legendary Maracanã in Rio into play. A gigantic, mobile system is supposed to make this possible.
The important ski jumping official Sandro Pertile has great visions for his sport and believes, among other things, competitions in Brazil are possible. “We are thinking of a mobile facility. We could set it up in the Maracanã in Rio and put on a huge show,” said the race director of the world association FIS in Bischofshofen. But we are still only in a brainstorming phase, said Pertile. “But it’s an interesting phase. We should be open to new things.”
“And there is the possibility of building indoor facilities, for example in Dubai – if we could find an investor. The mobile facility with a hill size of 150 meters is our goal. With that we could go anywhere in the world,” said Pertile. The Hillsize (HS) is a measure of the size of a ski jump. The value is considered the maximum distance at which a safe landing is still possible.
Pertile currently sees ski jumping as a winter sport. However, that could change in the future and against the background of climate change. “We have great options: We can jump on snow. We can jump on mats. We can jump hybrid,” he said. “And so we could go to Brazil and China, where there are a lot of people.”
Pertile also drew an extremely positive conclusion from the Four Hills Tournament. “I’m extremely satisfied. This was one of the best tours in recent years. I’m extremely proud that the ski jumping presented itself so well.” The audience was high at all four stations, with Oberstdorf (25,500) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (21,000) even reporting that they were sold out. The Italian highlighted “the dramaturgy, the high media interest, the very great audience interest – and the beautiful atmosphere everywhere”: “It was really an experience.”