UPDATED: The International Ski Federation (FIS) had already launched an investigation into the formal disqualifications of three Norwegian ski jumpers on Friday and Saturday, when the jumpers’ leader made a shocking admission on Sunday: “We have cheated” during FIS’ World Ski Championships that ended in Trondheim over the weekend, he said, and the ski jumpers’ head coach was suspended on Monday.
The disqualifications had set off a scandal that spoiled an otherwise highly successful World Championships for Norway. It had overcome lots of other challenges along the way and Norwegian athletes dominated the winners’ platforms, piling up a final harvest of 32 medals, 13 of them gold.
That included five gold medals to ski jumpers over the past 11 days. Then came the embarrassing disqualifications over alleged “manipulation” of the jumpsuits worn by Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang during Saturday’s individual competition on the bigger of the two ski jumps.
Sports commentators quickly attributed the disqualifications to cheating, “nothing less,” wrote Jan Petter Saltvedt of Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). “Maybe the highly expensive ski jumps at Granåsen (the winter sports arenas in Trondheim) will wind up as a symbol of everything that went wrong at the 2025 championships,” Saltvedt wrote.
FIS’ ethics division quickly mounted an independent investigation into the disqualifications of ski jumpers Lindvik, who also lost his silver medal in Saturday’s competition, and Forfang, who had placed fifth. Both of them were found to have worn jumpsuits that had been “manipulated” after being approved for use. Material not meeting requirements for elasticity had been sewn into the suits’ crotch areas, and that’s at the very least a violation of regulations.
An earlier disqualification on Friday of combined skiing and jumping athlete Jørgen Graabak, over his use of an unqualified binding, will also be examined by FIS’ ethics division. German officials had called for the investigation by FIS. “We need to get to the bottom of this,” Ralph Eder, spokesman for the German ski-jumping team, told NRK earlier on Sunday. “We need clarification of what has happened within the Norwegian team.”
On Sunday came the shocking confirmation that “we have cheated” from Jan-Erik Aalbu, chief of the ski-jumping team. “We have tried to trick the system.” At an afternoon press conference in Trondheim, when World Championship competition had ended, Aalbu stunned the media and many others with his blunt admission.
Aalbu had initially denied the manipulation allegations, even suggesting that rival nations filing complaints over the Norwegians were fueled by envy since his jumpers had done so well during the World Championships. On Sunday he “apologized in the strongest of terms” for both the cheating and his unjustified claims made “before I knew better.”
During the course of a night filled with “long and difficult meetings” with what he called “the support team” behind the ski jumpers, admissions were made that the jumpsuits had indeed been manipulated in violation of the rules. Aalbu refused to use any names of those involved in the manipulation, but incriminating secretly taped videos of the ski jumpers’ head coach Magnus Brevig and tailor Adrian Livelten in front of sewing machines in a garment and equipment room had already been circulating. Brevig had also changed his story on Saturday and acknowledged the suit alterations, but downplayed them as “a violation of the rules,” not cheating. It remained unclear what he thought was the difference.
Brevig did not appear at Sunday’s press conference with Aalbu. When asked where he was, Aalbu said he “was on a train to Oslo.” Asked whether Brevig would be fired, Aalbu said he couldn’t “speculate … but this will have consequences.”
On Monday both Brevig and Livelten were suspended. Brevig faced reporters outside the skiing federation’s offices at Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo and said he deeply regretted what they’d done, suggesting he and his colleagues had been “blinded by the VM (World Championships) bubble we were in. We went far over the line. We’re sorry about that.”
Brevig admitted that he and Livelten “manipulated or modified the jumpsuits in a way that broke the rules. It was a conscious act, so that’s cheating.” He said it had been a joint decision agreed by him, Livelten and another team member, Thomas Lobben, adding that while there were others involved, “I absolutely should have stopped it as head coach.” Asked why he thought the manipulation was necessary, Brevig said he had asked himself that “so many times later.” He said he deeply regretted what they’d done, insisted it was the first and only time it had happened, and “I’m terribly sorry that this happened.”
Aalbu said on Sunday that he’d be “re-evaluating” his own position, too. He also said at the time that he hadn’t spoken with the ski jumpers themselves. Newspaper Aftenposten reported that Norway’s national skiing federation (Norges Skiforbund) had otherwise not only clammed up but imposed gag orders on everyone in the organization before Aalbu’s press conference. “We contacted more than 20 people (within the federation) earlier on Sunday,” wrote Aftenposten journalist Nicholas Bergh on Monday, “and the response was striking: Silence.”
‘Shattered’ ski jumpers
Late Sunday night the two disqualified ski jumpers Lindvik and Forfang finally issued a statement claiming they were “completely shattered” and “would never have jumped in suits we knew were manipulated. Never.” They claimed they’d had full confidence in their support team, noting that “they have worked hard to develop competitive equipment.” It remained unclear why neither Lindvik nor Forfang had noticed any changes when they put their altered suits on prior to Saturday’s competition.
They acknowledged that they also have a responsibility for making sure their suits qualify, “but we haven’t had any routines for monitoring the work the support team has done, for example their sewing. We have to learn from this.” They concluded by claiming that they now want “full openness over what has happened, and look forward to speak with the FIS investigators.”
Forgang also sent out a message in English via social media to “the entire ski jumping family, fans, partners and colleagues” stating that he was “beyond devastated,” adding that the World Championships “were supposed to be a week of dreams” that instead “ended in tragedy.” He emphasized that he “was never aware that my suit had been manipulated.” While repeating that he’d always had “great trust” in the ski jumping team’s staff, “this time, a clear line was crossed.”
Lindvik, meanwhile, described it all on Monday as “a nightmare.” He wrote in a statement to NRK that he also felt “sad,” repeating that “I didn’t know my suit had been manipulated and I never would have used it if I knew that. It’s difficult for me to put words on how I’m feeling right now.”
Aalbu had stressed at the press conference on Sunday that “it’s very important for me to take responsibility as leader of the team,” Aalbu said on Sunday. “The ski jumpers aren’t responbible at all. We’ve been disqualified in a championship here at home (in Norway). Now we’ll sit down and find out what has happened.”
The national skiing federation itself (Norges Skiforbundet) also released a written statement Sunday night, attributed to its president Tove Moe Dyrhaug and acting secretary general Ola Keul: “The revelations and admissions that have come forward are unacceptable and violate athletic values. Cheating is extremely serious, and we know there are many who now feel an enormous sense of disappointment over what has happened.”
Both wrote that they expect the federation’s ski-jumping committee to “put all the facts on the table,” adding that “openness and honesty from those involved are important for rebuilding confidence and the reputation of ski-jumping.”
Norway’s ski jumping team had been in a slump in recent years, plagued by internal conflicts and poor performance, and had been enjoying what NRK commentator NRK commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt called a “resurrection” of sorts. The jumpers had also finally attracted new important commercial sponsorships from defense contractor Nammo, insurance company HELP and, during course of the championships themselves, from Adidas.
The new “partnership” with Adidas is due to take effect from May, with Aalbu calling it “an historically good deal for Norwegian ski jumping … with one of the most iconic sports brands in the world.” The Norwegian boss of Adidas, Bjørn Gulden, had congratulated the then-winning ski jumpers just last week and stated that the firm “looked forward to contribute to their future successes” after “one of the most successful eras in ski-jumping’s history.”
Now the team’s sponsorships are in jeopardy. On Monday HELP backed out of the agreement it’s had with Norway’s national ski jumping team over the past six years. The company stated that “it’s sad that Norwegian ski jumping in the course of a few days has broken down the confidence it was in the process of regaining, after several seasons where things other than sports performance had stolen attention. We have informed the national team and the ski federation that we are immediately pulling out of our sponsor agreement and that our logo shall be removed from all the athletes’ suits and from other material before the Raw Air and Holmenkollen Skifestival” scheduled for the upcoming weekend. That’s when all the ski jumpers, including Lindvik and Forfang, are due to be back in action from Thursday at Holmenkollen in Oslo and then on to Vikersund for ski flying from Friday to Sunday.
Fredrik Tangeraas, director of communications for defense contractor Nammo, had said that the manipulation of the jumpsuits “became a sad ending to an otherwise fantastic championships for the ski-jumping team. We now just have to wait and see how the ski federation follows this up.”
On Monday Nammo demanded that its logo also be removed from the ski jumpers’ helmets and suits: “As the ski jumping team’s biggest sponsor, we want to express our surprise and strong dissatisfaction with the cheating … it’s unacceptable and not in line with our company’s values,” the company stated in a press release. It’s not canceling its sponsorship, “but Nammo’s logo won’t be visible until all the facts are on the table.”
Other sponsors including Toyota Norge were still evaluating whether they’d withdraw their logos, funding or both.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund