The jump in Steamboat wasn’t great—and neither was the final.
The last World Cup Big Air before the Olympics went down last weekend in Steamboat USA—but it wasn’t the crescendo we hoped for. The final was underwhelming, with both the men and the women struggling on less than perfect jump.
This contest marks the start of a trend in how Big Air contests are playing out, with most of the field unable to put down well executed tricks. It’s not obvious what is causing this pattern: is it the jumps themselves, the pressure of finals or simply the fact that the difficulty of tricks is so far gone that consistency is impossible?
What is obvious though, is that the jump was difficult to ride.
Why is it that the best skiers in the world are made to compete on less than ideal jumps? Are the ski jumpers forced to compete on jumps the whole field agrees is not good? Do biathletes agree to race with guns that sometimes misfire?
Surely the goal of these events is not merely to fulfill TV contracts on schedule, award FIS points, and crown a World Cup winner. Maybe I am wrong, but surely the quality of the product matters. Surely the viewership analysts want the best product possible, for the riders to put on the best show. To achieve that, the riders need the greatest chance of success in order to perform their skills to the best of their ability. If the jump isn’t suitable for that, then what is the point?
Why should anyone care about a World Cup Big Air where the jump isn’t suitable for the best riders to do the coolest tricks? Unfortunately, plenty of people in the industry already don’t care, and running sub-par contests is certainly not the way to win them over.
Talking to some of the athletes, they were not comfortable on the jump. By no means did they suggest it was unridable or dangerous—but difficult. If we are asking the best in the world to try the hardest tricks, we shouldn’t be asking them to do it on wedges that make it even more risky.
The real reason for this rant is because of William Bostadløkken’s horrifying crash in training. There has been no suggestion that the jump caused the crash, but surely if the riders are not comfortable, there is an increased level of risk. A short press release sent out by the Norwegian federation says that William has undergone surgery in Denver and is in a stable but serious condition with severe spinal injuries. All of our thoughts are with William and those closest to him and we hope to hear more positive news soon.
Again, I am not suggesting that William’s crash was caused by the jump, there have been far worse jumps in the past. But maybe a level of discomfort, in a sport of milliseconds and inches, increased the risk. At very least, the jump contributed to the poor show on Saturday morning.
The low quality of the finals should take nothing away from the winners. Naomi Urness completed her incredible breakout season by winning her maiden World Cup, having podiumed in every start of her short career to date. Even with a diminished field, Naomi has the tricks to compete and her consistency is impressive.
Troy secured his second Big Air win and gave away some of the thought process behind his tactics in his post contest interview.
“I’m so grateful and blessed to win in front of family and friends. I couldn’t be more proud of myself. I knew if I played it safe and stuck to the plan, that I was gonna be able to put it down and people would blow themselves up.”
When asked about potentially making the USA team for the upcoming Olympics Troy replied, “I just wanna see it on paper and relax and play some golf.”
The progression of the sport has seemingly gone crazy. However, with consistency being an issue, there is danger of riders skiing conservatively and hoping others crash—something no one in the sport wants to see. I am not suggesting that is what Troy did, his switch trip 19 was grabbed longer than it takes to read my hole-filled opinion for crying out loud—hardly conservative. But I think I’ve made my point: we want the best riders landing the best tricks and competing to see who can do it the dopest.
The next time we will see these riders go head-to-head will be the Olympics. Hopefully, with a long history of building some of the best jumps ever made, Livigno will put together a perfect set up. One that allows these incredible riders to show the world exactly what they can do, on the biggest stage of all.
