Jukka Tahkola, the competition manager of the Ruka World Cup event, believes that women’s ski jumping and combined will be seen in the program of the Ruka World Cup in the next few years.
The World Cup of the Nordic skiing sports, i.e. cross-country skiing, ski jumping and combined, will get off to a good start this weekend at Ruka in Kuusamo. Only men compete in hill jumping and combined.
Ruka Nordic’s competition manager Jukka Tahkolan according to the competition organization, there has been a discussion about women’s participation in Ruka World Cup ski jumping and combined.
– For us as organizers, it wouldn’t be a problem, even if they were to jump. If they want to come here to jump, we will accept them, says Tahkola.
According to Tahkola, the change is hindered by Ruka’s HS142 hill, which is not only the largest of the World Cup hills in profile, but also prone to wind.
– I have heard from the coaches that Ruka’s hill is too big for most of the women’s combined jumpers. They haven’t practiced the sport for so long that they need to start the season on such a big hill, says Tahkola.
Finnish women’s hill sports in lifting
The current number one name in Finnish women’s ski jumping Jenny Rautionaho made an effort in the opening race of the World Cup in Poland for the first time in his career in the top ten.
The activities of the combined women’s national team are currently being developed at a rapid pace by the head coach Lasse Moilanen under. The athletes are only teenagers, but they are aiming for the World Championships for adults starting in February. Only 15 years old from Siilinjärvi Minja Korhonen made a splash by reaching the podium in the combined summer GP.
Women’s combined is a relatively new sport: the World Cup tour really started only last season. For the first time in the value competition program, it was at the World Championships in 2021.
Until now, the women’s combined has been dominated by Norway, and the number of participants has not yet been very large. The future of the sport in the Winter Olympics is also uncertain.
Jukka Tahkola believes that women will be competing on Ruka Mäki in the next few years.
– When the years go by and they gain experience and routine for that job, what’s stopping them? After all, women are already jumping from pretty big heights these days. Yes, even women have enough skill and courage for big hills.
There are twice as many races in men’s combined than women’s
The competition calendar for the season includes several ski jumping and combined competitions in which both men and women compete. For example, next week in Lillehammer, Norway, both men’s and women’s combined events will be competed. Only women do hill jumping in Lillehammer.
This season, women have 11 individual competitions in the Combined World Cup, while men have double the number, 22. In hill jumping, the number of women’s competitions has increased to 29. There are ten more races in the men’s program.
The World Cups of cross-country skiing, combined and ski jumping will go on different paths during the season, but all three sports will be seen after the World Championships in Planica until the end of the season in Oslo.
Incorporated
Men: 22 individual races
Women: 11 individual races
Ski jumping
Men: 39 individual races
Women 29 individual competition
Holmenkollen’s traditional winter sports weekend is the only FIS World Cup circuit where both men and women compete in all three Nordic skiing disciplines. Only the combined women are missing from the Salpausselkä Games, which conclude the World Cups at the end of March.
This year, the Ruka World Cup is four days long, if you include the combined reserve competition that took place on Thursday. However, there are only three actual competition days. Also in Lahti this season, the women’s hill qualifying will be held on Thursday.
Instead, the rich competition program has stretched the Holmenkollen Ski Festival to five days.
– The schedule is of course one big limiting factor. Getting television time is already its own story. It is not under the thumb of our organizers, it is decided by some others. Women’s ski jumping is not the first thing on the list when the world is fighting for TV time. At the moment, at least, Tahkola says, referring to overlaps with World Cup football.