Cold phase out: Are winter sports threatened with extinction?

WASHINGTON: I believe it would be good for us to get away from the term winter sports.”

This sentence was spoken by Alexander Stöckl, a ski-jumping coach, of all people. The Austrian, who has been in charge of the Norwegian national team since 2011, does not necessarily see the future of his sport on snow-covered hills and jumping slopes. “I think it’d be good if we tried to bring in a year-round mindset,” said Stöckl. “I believe that we are an extreme sport and that you can do it no matter where and no matter how.” The start of this season helped make the Austrian’s point. There was no snow in Zakopane, Poland at the beginning of November, so the ski jumpers had to land on mats instead of powder.

“We are lucky that we can use mats, that it is feasible and that we don’t need snow,” said Stöckl, with a view to climate change. In fact, jumpers have been using mats in preseason training for years. The mats can be used year-round with only water and electricity required. Water is constantly fed into the inrun track, which consists of two plastic or ceramic channels. It partially freezes there thanks to cooling units underneath.

The individual fibers of the mat resemble the very long bristles of a coarse broom and are constantly watered from the sides. The watering of the jump and the uphill slope form a closed circuit. The water is collected at the bottom, pumped upwards and reused. The mats remain on the slope even in winter and are covered with netting so that the snow sticks to them and does not slide off. The slope’s gradient is 35 to 38 degrees at its steepest point.

The fact that you no longer need snow to hold a ski-jumping event has Alexander Stöckl thinking about new possibilities.

“What would it be like if in 10 years’ time children all over the world dreamed of flying 250 meters on skis?” he asked. “And not just those who ski in Europe or maybe in North America. We can do that because we can install mat jumps anywhere.”

So, ski jumping in Africa, Australia or South America? And possibly in completely new formats, away from traditional ski jumping with first and second rounds? A willingness to move away from winter sports and towards extreme sports is gathering pace among the athletes.

“Basically, I do believe that you always have to develop further – even in terms of formats,” said Germany’s top ski jumper, Karl Geiger. “I wouldn’t dismiss the idea as completely absurd.”

It’s more difficult to judge how quickly fans would accept snow-free competitions outside the usual season and venues. After all, there has been a World Cup since 1994, but it has not been a resounding success, even in traditional ski-jumping nations.

Alpine skiing is facing much more difficulties than ski jumping. At the start of this World Cup winter, several entire weekends had to be canceled because the weather was too mild. An overcrowded World Cup calendar with races in areas that are no longer guaranteed to have snow as early as October is a problem. The national ski federations had raised this concern with the world governing body FIS, but their protests have fallen on deaf ears.