Worry after suit scandal Hannawald: "Without rigorous regulations, ski jumping could be buried in two years"
The World Championships scandal may have been just the beginning of very difficult months for ski jumping. A German icon is very worried.
10.03.2025, 23:20
dpa
German ski jumping legend Sven Hannawald is very worried about his sport after the suit scandal at the World Championships in Trondheim. "In my worst nightmare, I would never have thought it would come to this. I hope that all decision-makers will finally wake up and come up with rigorous regulations. Otherwise you can bury ski jumping in two years," Hannawald told the "Bild" newspaper.
Anonymously filmed and published videos have been causing a stir in ski jumping since Saturday. The moving images show how the Norwegian team, in the presence of head coach Magnus Brevig, is working on the competition suits in an unacceptable manner. Sports director Jan Erik Aalbu admitted at a press conference on Sunday that the federation had knowingly cheated on two suits.
The 50-year-old Hannawald had already suspected irregularities well before the memorable World Championship Saturday. He had said that in the current situation, people were forced to cheat. The former Four Hills Tournament winner had also repeatedly pointed out conspicuous suits in his work as a co-commentator for ARD. Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang were disqualified on Saturday for suit tampering. Their other results have so far stood.
Hannawald criticizes Lindvik and Forfang: "Stranglehold"
Lindvik and Forfang had said that they had known nothing about the manipulations. Referring to a post by Forfang, he said in an interview with sport.de and RTL/ntv that he had to stop reading in the third sentence "because I had to go to the toilet because I was retching".
A jumper in one of the most sensitive sports doesn't notice that a suit feels stiffer? he asked. "Then I don't know what's wrong with it. The people affected don't learn from it, mock the active jumpers somewhere. They're starting to show some cheek: 'I didn't know anything about it and the coach did it without my knowledge'. What a load of nonsense! It probably needs an even clearer cut."
