Ski jumping: new record length on the MacKenzie Intervale ski jump in Lake Placid
On Friday, one of the heroes of the women’s ski jumping world cup in Lake Placid (USA) turned out to be Polonia’s Pola Beltowska. In a competition marked by dreadful wind conditions, the young Pole soared to 131 metres. A historic jump, equalling the Polish women’s ski jumping record set by Kinga Rajda in 2022 in Willingen (Germany).
The 18-year-old jumper was one of the last athletes to take off in the morning, taking advantage of a strong headwind (nearly 2 m/s) to set a new benchmark on the MacKenzie Intervale springboard.
A few minutes later, strong gusts of up to ten metres per second forced the organisers to interrupt the competition and reschedule it for later in the evening. Unfortunately, although she was clearly leading the competition, her record was cancelled and her chance of winning her first World Cup points evaporated.
“The coaches were shocked”
The athlete from the Tatras didn’t immediately realise the magnitude of her performance. Speaking to Skijumping.pl, she described her jump as unexpected: “I don’t remember much about it. After leaving the table, I had the feeling I was about to land, but I managed to fly and everything went well. It was a normal jump in the end, but my coaches and I were shocked and very happy”, she says.
It was a performance that the AZS Zakopane player will never forget: “It was the best and funniest thing I’ve ever done. I was full of emotion. I wasn’t expecting a jump like that, and the landing really surprised me. I didn’t know how to do it”, she enthuses.
An unregistered record, Prevc takes the title
The competition resumed at 00:15 French time, the strong gusts having died down to allow the event to run smoothly. In these conditions, the World Cup leaders dominated the proceedings. Like yellow bib winner Nika Prevc, who set a new official springboard record of 130.5 metres.
Poland’s Pola Beltowska, who was stripped of her magnificent first jump, was unable to repeat her feat on the New York night. She finished anecdotally in twenty-eighth place with two marks at 116 and 89 metres. But she can console herself with the fact that no woman in history has gone further than her on the US springboard.
𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀 𝐉𝐔𝐌𝐏 🤯 Pola Beltowska 🇵🇱 with a 🆕 𝙉𝙀𝙒 𝙃𝙄𝙇𝙇 𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙊𝙍𝘿 🚀 in Lake Placid 🇺🇸#fisskijumping #skijumping #skijumpingfamily #lakeplacidskijumping pic.twitter.com/YE3xak8ckF– Viessman FIS Ski Jumping World Cup (@FISskijumping) February 7, 2025
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