2010 International Masters Ski Jumping Championships

Ziri & Kranj SLO

A Few More Pictures and
Comments from IMC 2010

Manuela Steinki Manuela Steinki (left) is a photographer, webmaster, and friend of Masters Ski Jumping. Manuela and her two friends were hard at work again in IMC 2010 snapping thousands of photographs to be posted on their web sites. See Manuela's Web Site
Manuela graciously sent us three disks full of pictures, more than 3000 in all, for use here. The photos include flight pictures and candid shots of faces in the crowd. The podium pictures are all by Manuela and her friends, as are the images below.
Thanks, Manuela!

IMC co-founder Guttorm Bakke commented years ago at an early IMC banquet "Some people think that a Masters ski jumper is an old guy with silver in his hair, gold in his teeth, and lead in his ass." To prove that idea wrong, we start with a few beautiful rides on the big hill, the Kranj K-100 meter jump. It was a little difficult to match the names with the skiers. Sometimes the numbers on the bib are not visible, and it turned out that every bib number was 100 more than the number printed in the results. For example, Oyvind Villesvik is given number 22 in the results but wore number 122 on his bib. Here is Villesvik in his bright orange suit.

Oyvind Villesvik, age 48 of Norway, flies to a silver medal

Gold Medalist Kare Hämälainen, 46 of Finland

Perennial medalist, Geir Rune Lislegård, 46 of Norway, Bronze in 2010
The gossip columnists are chattering about Geir Rune and photographer-
web-master Daniela, who have been seen dining and dancing together.

Possibly the best known jumper at IMC is Arne-Jens Jorgensen. Arne gets more rides than anyone else, and this year he scored a bronze medal on the big hill. Always with a cigarette and a smile, Arne is friend to all. We are reminded of the favorite comment by an old U.S. jumper "They told us we were having too much fun, but we didn't listen!"
Here is Jorgensen on the K-100 hill in Kranj.

Bronze medalist Arne-Jens Jorgensen, 54 of Norway

Here are some more Old Boys jumping on the 26 meter hill, older this time, more silver, more gold and more lead, but just as much fun. These five Scandanavians have been regulars at IMC for decades.

Svein Husby, NOR

Arnold Lund, NOR

Teuvo Koljonen, FIN

Kare Holmen Kåre Holmen, NOR

Olle Stromvall Olle Strömvall, SWE

The Oldest Ski Jumper at IMC XXI

John Eidem (NOR) at age 78 was the oldest competitor in IMC XXI, Eidem is shown above on the start bar of the K-26 and at right in full flight.

A Perfect Record -- All 21 IMC's

Heading to the top ... Sindre Helland (NOR) is the only person to ski in all twenty one editions of the IMC from 1990 through 2010. Above, Helland strides toward the ski jump, skis on his shoulder. At right, he flies during the 26 meter competition. His number 38 seems to be a training number, worn the day before the competition.

... and flying

Relay start
The leadoff skiers line up for the start of the Nordic Combined Team Relay.

ready to race 3 km
The oldest skiers line up for the start of the Nordic Combined cross country.
6-Janez Goranc, SLO; 15-Arnold Lund, NOR; 14-Reidar Finnangar, NOR; 18-Martti Lamminpaa, FIN

ready to race 10 km
The younger skiers line up for the start of the Nordic Combined cross country.
41-Antti Koivuranta, FIN; 50-Andread Stranz, AUT; 49-Klaus Sölkner, AUT;
56-Seppo Kinnunen, FIN; Fidel Terentiev, RUS.

Manuela is an opportunist and when she saw a national team lining up for pictures, she made sure to take a few shots too. Here are three resulting team photos, in reverse alphabetical order.

Team Ukraine
Old Boys from Ukraine

Team Russia
Old Boys from Russia

Team Austria
Old Boys from Austria

Nykaenen Still Draws a Crowd!

Matti Nykaenen, one of the greatest ski jumpers of all time, had his glory days and his low days. In 2008, after some of his worst times, "Nuke" decided to return to ski jumping and participate in the IMC in Taivalkoski, FIN. Matti had a small group of friends with him and didn't mix much with the regular IMC skiers, who gave him his space. In 2009, Matti hurt himself in a go-cart accident and could not ski, but he traveled to Hinterzarten for the IMC and awarded the medals for the first competition. In 2010, he was back skiing and mixed more with the other competitors. Almost twenty years after the Finn left the limelight, media still remember, as demostrated by the swarm of photographers crowding around him in the picture below. Perhaps he needs some peace.
Papparazzi crowd around Matti Nykaenen

The pictures above, as well as the podium pictures, were all contributed by Manuela Steinki, who has posted over two thousand more pictures from IMC 2010 on her web site. Take a look.

Go to the [ IMC 2010 report ]
or see awards photos for: [ K-26 ] ... [ K-40 ] ... [ K-60 ] ... [ K-100 ] ... [ N.C. ]

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