Recorded from the television broadcast and Compilation video published on YouTube The 1986 lentomäki World Cup competitions are terrible to watch.
At the time, it was even more terrible to watch the racing events from the tower or mount of the Kulm airfield in Austria.
– I remember the competitions well. The weather was really rough. The men were taken to the hospital quite properly, Mika Kojonkoski recalls the competition for STT 38 years ago.
In the case of Kojonkoski, who was 22 years old at the time and had jumped in his second flying hill World Championships, the horror factor took on new proportions as his own jumping turn approached.
– The retinas still have traces from when Norway Rolf Åge Berg in a yellow jumpsuit set off just before me.
Berg slid from the boom to the gunwale and pushed the jumper from the bow. In capricious wind conditions, his other ski flapped the air on the hill.
– I saw when the soles of the skis shone on the hill towards the tower, Kojonkoski repeats his visual observation.
Having lost control of his jump, the Norwegian threw himself face first into the downhill slope and slid to the bottom of the hill.
“Next to the stage”
Kojonkoski realized that things had gone badly for Berg.
– I took off my skis. After a while, a gray helicopter with a red cross on the side flew by to pick up Rolf Åge.
The whirring of the helicopter can also be heard in the composite video, which is otherwise a perfect snapshot of the conditions under which the hill was jumped.
The competition continued after a short break.
– There were no test jumpers. Next to the stage. The feeling was special.
In the four-round and two-day competition, in addition to Berg, Japan Masahiro Akimoto and East Germany Ulf Findeisen lost control of their jump above the hill with severe consequences and were badly injured.
For Akimoto and Berg, the jumps were the last of their careers, but Findeisen climbed the tower the very next season and toured the World Cup for a few more years.
A hundred to the bow
This week, in the World Cup competitions held at the Kulm airstrip, jumping is done in a completely different framework and with different equipment than a few decades ago.
– Equipment, men and wind protection have developed, says Kojonkoski, who has seen the sport’s long development from the 1970s until now.
– We used to jump from the snow track, but now there are frost pipes under the track. The track is at a completely different level than before.
The ski could bounce off the uneven snow trail decisively before the bow, causing a dangerous situation or at least ruining the jump.
There was another danger lurking in the snow trail.
– When it rained, it was wet, and every couple of meters, transverse grooves were made in it, where water accumulated. The skis flapped hard when we came to the bow at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour.
– There are fierce memories of those times. I’m glad that things have developed.
Today the speeds are slower, but the best jumps on the flying hill are more than 50 meters longer than during Kojonkoski’s active years.
“Good Matt!”
In the compilation video, you can hear when someone shouts “good Matti” before Matti Nykänen performance of the third round.
It went well, but not well enough. of Austria Andreas Felder won the 1986 world championship at the end of a dangerous career. Countryman Franz Neulandtner was second and Nykänen was third. With his ghost jump of 191 meters, Felder eclipsed Nykänen’s world record in Planica.
Tuomo Ylipulli completed the Finnish success with fifth place, Pekka Suorsa was seventh and Kojonkoski 16th. Last year in Planica, Nykänen won the world championship, Ylipulli was seventh and Kojonkoski was 23rd.
Kojonkoski ended his international jumping career early, but has since made a career as a coach and sports director. Nowadays, he works in the Finnish Skiing Association as the director of ski jumping and combined sports.
– I have the best memories of Kulm from 2006. Roar Ljökelsöy won the world championship. In addition, we won the team competition, says Kojonkoski, who coached Norway at the time.
Mental qualities
Nowadays, attention is paid to safety in a different way, also in event arrangements. In the corners, 1,986 spectators climbed trees to watch the competition, dogs were barking in the audience, and injured jumpers were dragged on stretchers to medical facilities through the crowds.
Despite the development, hill jumping will never be a completely safe sport.
– Safety is at a completely different level than a few decades ago, but Daniel-Andre Tande crashed really badly and dangerously in Planica a few years ago, Kojonkoski mentioned a Norwegian who recovered from his flying hill accident.
Last season, bad somersaults were experienced, for example, on the Planica suurmäki in Slovenia Peter Prevc and in the concrete of Lahti, Norway Benjamin Ostvold.
Prevci’s ski came off mid-flight. Östvold’s fate was the typical “solilukeli” i.e. capricious wind in Salpausela. Both have toured the World Cup again this season.
After bad falls, in addition to physical recovery, mental recovery is required of jumpers.
The competition head is measured at the flight hill at the latest, where the uncertainty factor increases.
– Mental qualities are the most important. In ski jumping you have to enjoy challenging yourself, Kojonkoski opens up the secrets of aerial ski jumping.
As the speeds and risks increase, keeping the performance intact and daring are emphasized. Those whose package stays together the best will do well.
– That’s where the difference between mediocrity and excellence emerges.
Two Finnish winners
The first lentomaki MM competitions were jumped in 1972 in Planica. The team competition was added to the program in 2004.
In addition to Nykänen (1985), among the Finns, lentomäki has won the world championship Jari Puikkonenwho was the best in Oberstdorf in 1981. Finland’s previous ski jumping adult competition medal came from the lentomäki World Cup team competition in 2010.
Antti Aalto, Eetu Nousiainen, Niko Kytösaho and Kasperi Valto represent Finland in this year’s World Championships.
– Eetu jumped the best races of her life in Oberstdorf a couple of years ago, Kojonkoski pointed to Nousiainen’s 8th and 15th places.
Aalto has also jumped into the top ten in the World Cup flying hill competition.
– Antti and Eetu both fit into the flight hill.
As a whole, Finland’s season has been in a downward direction after a good start.
– The first four races were very positive. In general, all camping activities had to be scaled down in the summer, but this did not reflect negatively on the results of the early season competitions. As the journey progresses, things have not started to develop in the desired direction, Kojonkoski estimates.
From the beginning of the season, the Finns knocked steadily to the second round, but then something happened. After mid-December, the flashes have remained isolated.
– If you want to split hairs, the hill week in Central Europe was better than a year ago. But it still wasn’t good.
– After hill week, every day has been a step towards the lentomaki World Championships, Kojonkoski piles ahead of the season’s only ranking competition.
The Mäkijupy lentomaki World Championships will be jumped from 25 to 28 January. From an HS235-sized airfield at Kulm Mitterndorf, Austria. does not have the TV rights to the lentomäki World Championships, but the competitions are followed on ‘s website and on Sports Screens and Sports Radios.