Provided Photos US men jumpers Erik Belshaw and Decker Dean with USA Ski Jumping chair Darryl Landstrom.

By NAJ WIKOFF

The first World Cup Ski Jumping competition in the United States that featured both men and women jumpers was in Lake Placid from Feb. 6 to 9. In another first on the international level, the women received parity in prize money with the men.

As is true in many sports, male ski jumpers received far more prize money than women prior to Lake Placid. For example, at a World Cup qualifier held this past January in Germany, the winning man received $3,300, and the winning woman received shampoo and a hand towel. On average, prior to Lake Placid, the women received one-third the prize money as the men, even though they jumped on the same hills and landed similar distances down the hill.

In Alpine ski racing, which receives far greater media coverage, the International Ski Federation and U.S Ski & Snowboard provide men and women parity as they do for Freestyle and Snowboarding. The same is generally true in cross-country ski racing and biathlon, but until now, it was not true for women jumpers or Nordic Combined.

Part of the challenge is that Nordic Combined and ski jumping do not receive the kind of media attention as the other skiing sports, and thus seeking outside funding is as crucial as working to raise the profile of these sports to the level they had in the first half of the Twentieth Century. An asset they do have is that they are great spectator sports, as the Olympic Regional Development Authority has demonstrated over the past two years.

US men jumpers Erik Belshaw and Kevin Bickner.

Lake Placid native Nina Lussi and other former USA jumpers Lindsey Van, Jessica Jerome, and Tara Geraghty-Moats, initiated the drive to offer parity in prize money, inspired by Lussi’s success at crowdfunding following a 2018 knee injury. They decided to crowdfund $3,000 for just the female winner of the qualifying jump, a round in which women had never before received prize money. In less than three days, they had doubled their goal.

Inspired partly by Lussi’s and her friend’s effort and success, ORDA decided to help them achieve the more ambitious goal of generating about $120,000, sufficient funding to enable the top twenty-five women jumpers to receive prize money equal to the men. ORDA began by contacting partner agencies like the various sports commissions and major establishments in the community. When the World Cup opened, the funding drive was within $5,000 of their goal, which they accomplished.

ORDA spokesperson Darcy Norfolk said closing the gap in prize money between men and women in winter sports has long been a priority. The challenge, she says, is that the gap in ski jumping was significant; yet, inspired by Nina and her teammates’ GoFundMe effort, ORDA decided to get as close as possible.

“We communicated with our partner organizations, USA Ski Jumping, U.S. Ski and Snowboard, then started by dedicating part of the proceeds from our ticket sales to go towards those prize awards, and then it all organically came together,” Norfolk said. “On Friday evening, for the first time, the women received prizes for the Qualification round, funding made possible by Nina and her colleagues. The good news is that in all the remaining competitions, the women will receive financial support equal to the men.”

“I love ski jumping and am happy to have the World Cup in Lake Placid; it’s my home, and I want to help make it a special occasion for the women to experience Lake Placid hospitality,” Lussi said. “The women are thrilled and they definitely appreciate the improvements. It’s good to get the message out, and now we’ll see how many will support what we’re trying to accomplish: prize parity for women. I’m all in favor of leading by example; if other venues want to follow, I think there will be a lot of appreciation for that; one step at a time, and we’ll get there eventually.”

From left, Agnes Reisch, Nika Prevc, and Selina Freitag. Nika is Slovenian.

For the athletes, receiving such awards is very helpful as the costs of jumping are high; imagine checking in at the airport with a pair of 8.5-foot skis, the amount of physical therapy needed in such a physically demanding sport, the cost of their specialty equipment and more.

“It means a lot that Lake Placid is providing us parity with the guys,” US jumper Annika Belshaw said. “We normally get maybe one-third of what the guys are awarded in prize money. We need to speak out as we have shown that we can handle the big hill and jump just as far as they do. We should be given more TV time and as much prize money as the guys. Our expenses are the same, and we work just as hard. I hope other venues will now follow Lake Placid’s lead.”

Another critical step to increasing public interest in ski jumping is the partnership between the Norwegian and U.S. ski jumping teams initiated three years ago. U.S. athletes train in Norway for significant periods of time under the guidance of their coaches. This arrangement enables U.S. ski jumpers to train alongside some of the best jumpers in the world. The outcome is that U.S. jumpers are rising in the ranks, and more young people, particularly girls, are entering the sport.

“This is our third year working with the Norwegians, and it’s paying some nice dividends,” said Darryl Landstrom, Chair of U.S. Ski Jumping Association. “They assist us with designated coaching, lodging, transportation, and training. The results we are seeing are very encouraging.”

“When we work with the Americans, we have an expanded support staff, logistics become easier and working together will help us grow the sport,” said Christian Meyer, head Norwegian coach. “The Lake Placid jumps are quite special, the hills are great, and we love the enthusiasm of the American audience. We look forward to having more competitions in the U.S. and want to help jumping become more popular here.”

US women jumpers Paige Jones, Annika Belshaw, and Josie Johnson.

Many of the U.S. athletes felt to help draw more youth into the sport, adding a mid-sized hill to the Intervale complex is critical, one that reflects the standards of Placid’s two big hills.

“Placid has every size hill you need except for a 70, a normal hill that we hold many competitions on like the Junior Nationals,” said Paige Jones. “There is nothing around here like that that has plastic so we can train and compete in the summer. Asking kids to go from the 40 to a large hill with nothing in between is asking a lot. A 60 or 70 is where you learn to fly a little bit, and it allows you to figure out the basics with less at stake.”

“I love jumping in Lake Placid,” said German jumper Agnes Reisch, who placed second in Saturday’s competition for women. “I hope we will be invited back.”

(Naj Wikoff lives in Keene Valley and has been writing his column for the Lake Placid News