IRON MOUNTAIN, MICHIGAN — Last weekend at Pine Mountain Resort in Iron Mountain, Michigan they held the 2022 FIS Continental Cup
“Many of these guys are qualified to be in the olympics," said Tom Bickner, the US Nordic Sport chairman. "Many of them are Olympians, past Olympians and almost all of them are competing on the world cup right now. I would say this is probably the highest level of competition I have seen here in 10 years.”
Ski jumpers from seven countries came to compete on the newly built ski jump.
“It’s great all the people are great, the beer is great as well," said Phillip Raimund, who was a competitor from Germany. "It’s a great country and great people. I just love being here.”
“These are the guys that are hungry that want to get to continental cup to the world cup. To do that, they have to get great results. The thing they like about Iron Mountain is the people because everybody is so friendly and they don’t get this in Europe," said Susie Fox, who helps run the event.”
After not having the event last year due to COVID restrictions and with the Olympics going on right now, the interest in the event was at an all-time high.
“On Friday, we had our biggest Friday crowd ever because they were starved from ski jumping last year," Fox said.
“As an Olympic sport it gets everybody excited about watching it," said Bickner. "Just a lot of attention on the sport really helps.”
You have to be crazy to do the sport, right? Flying through air on just a pair of skis.
“Not at all because you start on very little jumps," said Fox. "Just like anything else you graduate up to the big hill and apparently it’s the most amazing feeling.”
For the competitors it's become an addiction, the sport gives them a feeling that is unmatched..
“It’s just like the feeling in the air," Raimund said. "To get out and get over the gnome and you just have you the feeling you’re like 20 meters, it feels like 20 meters, it’s not 20 meters of course. It feels like you’re just flying through the air and having no gravity at all – it’s insane. It’s great.”
As you can guess, they recommend giving it a try if you already like to ski.
“If you like ski – it’s just normal skiing and you just like normal skiing and jumping over like kickers and stuff and if you like it – it’s not that far off so just start it and keep going crazy,” said Raimund.
