The ski jumping World Cup season schedule began over the weekend. It was not a smooth start for Austrian Andreas Kofler.
Kofler, a three-time Olympic medalist, made a landing mistake not usually committed by a jumper of his stature Sunday. It looked clean at first, until Kofler lost balance, raised his left leg and fell to the snow.
He was taken off on a stretcher but thankfully waved his hand in the air.
“Fortunately nothing is fractured,” Kofler said, according to comments in Austria’s Kronen Zeitung translated by the International Ski Federation. “I have a few bruises and a laceration to the shoulder. That doesn’t prevent me from jumping.”
Kofler soared 115 meters, more than 20 meters shorter than the leaders, and finished in 45th out of 47 competitors.
The ski jumping World Cup continues in Kuusamo, Finland, this weekend. Kofler will be able to compete, according to the Austrian report.