Toni never clears Nieminen on a large scale in a very young age. In 1994 the Finnish ski jumper wrote history one last time – before he soon disappears into the sinking.
It was a historic moment of ski jumping – performed by an 18 -year -old who had climbed into the scene of the scene two years earlier.
On March 17, 1994 – today 31 years ago – the Finn Toni Nieminen was the first ski jumper to crack the magical border of 200 meters and only started landing on the Slovenian Planica after 203 meters.
Nieminen puts fabulous world record
“I didn’t think about a record jump,” said the 49-year-old later at Nordicsports . “I can no longer remember the jump itself. It just went too quickly. But it was a great feeling when I saw on the scoreboard that I jumped 203 meters. “
However, the honor for the very first jump over 200 meters almost deserves the Austrian Andreas Goldberger, who had flown just before never 202 meters, but reached into the snow, which is why the Finn was attributed to the Finn.
The joy of the fabric world record did not last too long at Nieminen – the next day the Norwegian Espen flew Bredesen again six meters and landed at 209 meters.
Nieminen’s short-term world record symbolizes his entire course of career.
Toni Nieminen managed the first jump over 200 meters in 1994 in Planica
Earlier climb, former crash
After debut in the World Cup at the tender age of 15 in the spring of 1991, he flew away to everyone in the follow-up season and cleared them on a large scale-in the V-style, which was not yet uniformly.
The then 16-year-old not only won the four-hill tour and the overall World Cup in 1991/92, but also became the Olympic champion in Albertville. He also celebrated eight World Cup victories in the then winter.
But as comfortable as his climb was, his star shot so quickly. In the following years – also due to physical problems – he could never build on the successes from the 1991/92 season and only celebrated a single further World Cup victory in 1995 in Kuopio.
In 2002, Nieminen was last active in the World Cup before ending his career two years later. He then worked as a trainer and sports reporter before daring a short-term comeback at the age of 40 in 2016. In the meantime, he even slipped into alcohol addiction and sold his medals. Nieminen’s story was similar to that of his early compatriot Matti Nykänen.
Toni Nieminen 2014 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
“Probably the success came too early”
As glamorous as his rapid sporting climb was, the former child prodigy later looked back on his early success: “I just wanted to have fun like any other young person my age. Probably my sporting success had come too early, and I could no longer withstand the pressure. ”
Nevertheless, Nieminen, who turns 50 on May 31, has his permanent place in the ski jumping history books-as the youngest four-hill tour winner, overall World Cup winner and Olympic champion in history as well as the first athlete, who was able to successfully land over 200 meters.