The last thing that an Olympic athlete wants to do before hurling themselves down a hill and launching more than a 100 metres in the air is get distracted.
American Benjamin Loomis was competing in the ski jump portion of the team nordic combined event on Thursday at the Winter Games when an unanticipated obstacle got in his path: A leaf blower.
Loomis had already began his descent down the launch when an unaware staffer failed to move his tool out of the skier’s path.
Workers were using leaf blowers to keep the tracks on the ski-jumping ramp clear as a blizzard made for extremely snowy conditions at the hill in Cortina d’Amprezzo.
In a video that was posted online from broadcast coverage in Milano-Cortina, Loomis passes by one worked who raises his leaf blower out of the way, but slams through a second one.
Thankfully, he appeared to be unfazed by the incident and managed to jump as planned, reaching a speed of 96.3 km/h and recording a distance of 116 metres.
With the jump, Loomis and teammate Niclas Malacinski posted a time and score over the two portions of the event that was good enough for seventh place. The Norwegian team of Andreas Skoglund and Jens Luraas Oftebro won the event, narrowly edging out the team from neighbouring Finland. Austria finished in third for bronze.
The official apologized to Loomis and offered him the chance to retake his jump, but he declined.
What did Loomis say about the incident?
“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” the American told NRK.
“Fortunately, it happened at the top, so I just tried to convince myself to make a good jump.”
Loomis added that he saw the leaf blower in his path, but thought that the staffer would move it in time.
“When I let go of the boom, I wondered if he would move. It didn’t hurt, but it left a mark on the suit. Luckily it only hit my shoulder. If it had hit me in the face, it would have been a completely different story.”
Event officials shared their regrets over the potentially disastrous situation that occurred.
“It is very regrettable that we had an incident with Loomis,” competition director Lasse Ottesen said.
“It was good that nothing more happened, but it should not happen. The person has apologized to the jury and FIS (International Ski and Snowboard Federation) apologizes to the USA.”