PREDAZZO, Italy, Feb 19: U.S. Nordic combined athlete Ben Loomis experienced an unusual interruption during Thursday's Olympic team sprint. As he launched from the start bar in the ski jump, an official failed to remove a leaf blower in time, striking Loomis.
Leaf blowers are utilized in ski jumping to clear loose snow from the in-run. Officials are stationed along the track to operate the equipment between jumps.
The incident saw the leaf blower make contact with Loomis's shoulder. While it scuffed his uniform, he reported no pain and was not significantly affected by the collision. Loomis and his teammate Niklas Malacinski ultimately finished in seventh place.
Loomis stated, "Unfortunately one of them was a little bit too late pulling theirs (leafblower) out of the way, but they're human and things can happen." He was offered a chance to redo his jump but declined, citing deteriorating snow conditions that could have impacted his performance.
"I was still pretty happy with the jump and had the opportunity to take a second jump, but decided that conditions were probably getting worse and it kind of mentally was my competition jump, so I was happy with it," Loomis added.