- Hoppuka, first race, on TV3 and Viaplay at 4.30pm
OBERSTDORF (Dagbladet): Halvor Egner Granerud (26) won qualifying for the first Hoppuka race yesterday. At 4.30 this afternoon it goes wild in Oberstdorf in Germany.
Kasper Wikestad (47) comments on the first two races in Hoppuka for licensee Viaplay. He is full of optimism on behalf of the Norwegians, led by Granerud and Marius Lindvik. At the same time, the expert commentator noticed something other than just the results:
– The attention Norwegian jumpers get is well deserved. But I think they also deserve to hear how good they are as a group and how good ambassadors they are for their sport. If you’re going to take me as a commenter, then my job is to get involved and get carried away with how they do it. And vice versa: I am disappointed and sad if they don’t perform.
IMPRESSED: Kasper Wikestad has experience in many sports. But he can’t brag enough about the jumpers. Here he is with Halvor Egner Granerud. Photo: private
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Wikestad continues:
– It’s much easier to get involved as a commenter when you work with people you like and wish them well. This is the fourth Hoppuka that I have commented and commented on jumps for the past five or six years. Since the first race in Engelberg in 2017, I have experienced that jumpers have an open and inclusive environment. You notice that the team has a very healthy culture. You see it in the way they welcome other people, especially strangers.
AT WORK: Here’s the Viaplay trio making sure the jumps are brought home to Norway. From left: journalist Brede Bleiklie Thomassen, lead commentator Kasper Wikestad and jumping expert Andreas Stjernen. Photo: private
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In Dagbladet, Wikestad tells a story from his private life. He doesn’t want it to distract from the big picture. But he thinks history says a lot about the jumpers. In August and September 2020 he was hospitalized after suffering from bowel and kidney cancer.
– For my part, it is appropriate to say thank you. I hadn’t commented so much on the jumps when I was in the hospital. But all the team members took the trouble to send me a video greeting in the hospital bed. I think it says a lot about the kind of people they are and why they are incredibly easy to like.
Wikestad also singles out TV 2 reporter Per Tho Angell who made the video alongside the jumpers.
– Excuse me
– To put today’s race and the next three races into context: I hope people cheer for the jumpers and rejoice with them. We have an incredible number of great jumping heroes. Some of our country’s biggest sporting profiles come from the ski jumping hill, Wikestad points out.
– We may not have the same relationship to much of what we had before. I think of jumpers like Ingolf Mork, Toralf Engan, Roger Ruud and all of them. But the profiles we have today are tremendously good athletes and awfully good ambassadors for their sport. I hope people get involved the way they do at Hoppuka.
Wikestad says she is fine today after cancer:
– My fitness is almost back to what I was before the illness. But it’s something I have to live with for the rest of my life. A couple of things followed. I struggle with little practical things like carrying, because I’ve had stomach surgery. Something remains. But overall, I have very little to complain about.
Viaplay took over the jumping rights after NRK. While Wikestad is primarily concerned with talking about jumpers, he himself receives praise for the work he does. Hop people are picky eaters and very active on social media. For Wikestad it was impossible not to clash with the retired Arne Scheie (78).
LEGEND: NRK’s Arne Scheie was a giant in ski jumping for many years. Today he is retired. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB
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– What do you think about commenting on the historical silver of Norwegian sport after Scheie?
– Awe and humility are the words. Scheie has been doing this for over 40 years. He was a fixture in Norwegian sport and is a fixture in Norwegian television history. He was a broker the likes of which this country has hardly ever seen. These are huge shoes.
But Wikestad points out:
– I and whoever I have with me have a very strong desire to do it our way. Viewers should notice a difference between Viaplay and other channels. We are a new intermediary. It is important that it is something different and not the same as before. There are probably some who don’t like it. And then there are probably others who think it’s a good thing. If you’re going to copy someone else, it will never be anything but a cheap copy. You have to be yourself for it to work.
TESTING THE HILL: Kasper Wikestad tries his hand as a jumper with Robert Johansson and Halvor Egner Granerud as spectators. Photo: private
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Many have been concerned about the future of show jumping. Changing TV channels, winters with little snow, poorer recruitment and sponsorless Norwegian jumpers are among the elements.
– It is complex enough, says Wikestad, that however he does not see immediate dangers.
– Jumping is increasingly becoming a year-round sport with the technology now available with plastic tracks. You become less dependent on snow for sports.
I have a difficult message
He points out:
– See the qualifiers in Oberstdorf with almost 20,000 spectators and a fantastic life. Hopp is alive and well, even outside of Poland. If people open their eyes to the wonderful group defending the Norwegian colours, I think the jump will involve a lot of people.
This afternoon it goes wild. Hoppuka is organized for the 71st time.
