A year ago in March Silje opseth Vikersund was fan of the women’s ski jumping world record for women’s ski jumping as his jump carried 230.5 meters.
In addition to the ME readings, Norwegian has won nine races in his career in the World Cup, captured 29 prizes and achieved three World Championship medals.
Nonetheless, OpSeth has often felt a failure because he is “too big”.
– It has sometimes been an incredibly big mental burden for me that I always have to focus on my weight. It takes all my energy. I feel like a real failure, OPSeth said In an interview with NRK.
The 25-year-old jumper made his debut at the World Cup at the age of 16 in 2015. He is 170 centimeters tall and one of the longest jumpers on the tour. OpSeth has felt from the beginning that he was on his way to his length because of his length.
– Sometimes it has felt like I would jump on a 10 -pound weight vest, but the feeling is more mental than physical. That’s what it is in an environment where most are small and light.
Weight is constantly reminded of
This season, OpSeth has been able to participate in only three World Cup competitions and has not been successful.
OpSeth has had difficulty in weight management in recent years as his body has been against. According to him, this constant battle has caused him a lot of negative thoughts.
The situation has been exacerbated by the fact that he feels that others have also paid attention to his weight and speculate on it.
– As long as I am involved in an environment where weight is so affected, I am constantly reminded of it. It feels pretty brutal.
The general ski jumping series has a body mass index rule that affects the length of the jumper’s skis. If the jumper’s body mass index (BMI) is less than 21, he will have to jump on shorter skis. OPSeth would like to change this rule.
– There is a greater benefit of lower weight than shorter skis.
Once upon a time the women’s ski jump Mare’s lundby agrees with OPSeth’s BMI rule.
Lundby has also experienced the same as OPSeth. He stopped in 2021 because he no longer had a spark in the sport and could no longer be extremely losing weight.
Lundby won Olympic gold, two world championships and eight frosted World Championship medals.
-There is a BMI border, but about half of the World Cup’s top ten jumpers and most of the previous winners of the World Cup and World Cup overall will find loopholes in the rules, Lundby wrote In his NRK column.
– Weight is the asset, at least at the top level, which has been used for decades to optimize technology, tools and physics. If the physics and weight and equipment, weight and equipment are won nine times out of ten.
Competition boss admits: lighter weight is an advantage
Lundby believes that the biggest advance favorites in Trondheim also are the smallest end of the BMI table. According to Lundby, the ski jumping races resembled more weight competitions than sports competitions at the end of his career.
– It is time for the International Ski Association (FIS) to take responsibility. FIS has been good at ensuring the safety of athletes in a dangerous sport. This must also concern the weight rule, as we see a number of examples of how this printing requirement affects the physical and mental health of athletes.
FIS Ski Jumping Race Director Sandro Pertile admits that lighter weight is an advantage for jumpers. For NRK written According to Pertile, the email response in FIS is convinced that physical condition remains an important parameter in ski jumping.
– Almost every sport has a certain basic framework that facilitates the access of “suitable” athletes to the top of the world. In ski jumping, as in many other sports, lighter weight is an advantage compared to heavier weight, he wrote.
In his reply, Pertile stated that FIS would receive all possible proposals to improve the situation. Lundby would have a pretty tough solution to this.
-My suggestion is that the BMI value be raised to a healthy level and the value must be absolute. Athletes below the BMI value must be banned to compete-and not just jump on shorter skis.