Winter sports Great visions
Model Formula 1 – ski jumping planned in Brazil and Dubai
As of: 12:17 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
The indoor ski resort in Dubai could be a pioneer for indoor ski jumping
Quelle: Getty Images/Francois Nel
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Against the backdrop of climate change, ski jumping is preparing for a future without natural snow. Fis race director Sandro Pertile has big plans – and is even bringing the legendary Maracana in Rio into play.
Sandro Pertile has great visions for his sport. The race director of the International Ski Federation (FIS) is working to no longer limit ski jumping to the snow regions of Europe and, with a few exceptions, Asia and North America. Ski jumping should become more global. Formula 1 is his role model.
The Italian believes, among other things, competitions in Brazil are possible. “We are thinking about a mobile system. We could set it up in Rio at the Maracana and put on a huge show,” said the 55-year-old. “The mobile system with a hill size of 150 meters is our goal. “We could go anywhere in the world with that,” Pertile said. The hill size (HS) is a measure of the size of a jump; the value is considered the maximum distance at which a safe landing is still possible.
The combination of a football stadium and ski jumping is not new. The run-off areas of the Olympic ski jumps in Pyeongchang (2018) and Beijing (2022) are used as soccer fields outside the snow season. Now Pertile is thinking about an even more direct integration of the two sports: a huge ski jump that can be built virtually anywhere. The jumpers themselves are conflicted.
“I don’t know if Brazilians can do anything with ski jumping,” said DSV Adler Stephan Leyhe. He was “definitely ready” to try something out, but also said: “The question is whether I would rather jump in the snow in Oberstdorf in front of 25,000 spectators or in the sun in Brazil in front of zero spectators. You don’t know how it would develop.”
Ski jumping halls in Dubai
In addition to a mobile system that could travel around the world, Pertile is also planning indoor systems. In Dubai, for example, there is already an indoor ski hall in the Mall of the Emirates where ski competitions can be held. In order to make such a project a reality, however, the sport needs investors, Pertile pointed out.
The indoor ski resort in Dubai could be a pioneer for indoor ski jumping
Quelle: Getty Images/Francois Nel
Jumper Philipp Raimund doesn’t think much of this idea: “I personally don’t have to fly to Dubai to ski jump. I see that as a bit pointless. It’s completely okay for me to continue jumping here.”
“You can’t neglect our core,” said Leyhe. He is critical of ski jumping as a year-round sport with a significantly extended season: “At some point the body has its limits. Nobody could manage eight months.”
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In the short term, the revolutionary ideas will not be implemented anyway. Race director Pertile still sees ski jumping as a winter sport. However, that could change in the future and against the background of climate change. “We have great options: we can jump on snow. We can jump on mats. We can jump hybrid,” he said. “And so we could go to Brazil and China, where there are a lot of people.”
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We are still in a brainstorming phase, said Pertile. “But it’s interesting. We should be open to new things.”
