(Video) Leaf Blower On Course Nearly Topples Team USA Jumper Ben Loomis

Team USA’s Ben Loomis finished seventh in the Nordic combined team sprint along with his teammate Niklas Malacinski.

(Video) Leaf Blower On Course Nearly Topples Team USA Jumper Ben Loomis

Ben Loomis was nearly toppled (Image via Screengrab - @onkonalka on Instagram)

In Short
  • Ben Loomis was struck by a leaf blower during the Olympic team sprint event, causing minor damage to his uniform.
  • Despite the distraction, Loomis finished seventh and expressed no ill will towards the official responsible for the incident.
  • The incident prompted an apology from FIS, and Loomis chose not to take a second jump despite being offered the opportunity.

The US Nordic Combined athlete, Ben Loomis, faced an unexpected obstacle on the course during the Olympic team sprint event on Thursday. Loomis, 27, was struck by a leaf blower during his launch from the start bar as an Olympic official failed to clear the equipment from the course in time.

In ski jumping competitions, leaf blowers have been employed by the Olympic organizers to clear the in-run of the loose snow. The officials are placed in lines, positioned along the track to operate the equipment between each jump.

The equipment caught the Wisconsinite on the shoulder, scuffing his uniform, but didn’t cause any considerable pain for the athlete.

Though it was a distraction, Loomis was unfazed as he finished in the seventh place alongside his teammate Niklas Malacinski. The former US soldier kept a stiff upper lip about the situation.

He admitted that the situation was out of the ordinary for him, and he escaped major harm. He added that he didn’t believe there was any ill intent by the official, that it was an unintentional mistake. Loomis told Reuters:

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.

In the aftermath of the incident, FIS apologised to Loomis, the race director, Lasse Ottesen, calling the incident “regrettable.” Ottesen also said that the official has apologised to the organization as well as Team USA for his error. The skier was awarded a chance to take a second jump, but he chose not to go for it.

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.

The Norwegians, Andreas Skoglund and Jens Lurås Oftebro, took the gold. Ilkka Herola and Eero Hirvonen of Finland won silver, and Stefan Rettenegger and Johannes Lamparter of Austria won a bronze medal. The Germans, who led the ski jumping part of the competition, fell to fifth after the completion of the concluding cross-country part.

Norway has swept the Nordic Combined with three golds in three events

Nordic Combined has been one of the most controversial events of the Winter Olympics 2026 after it excluded events for women. The International Olympic Committee found that the sport lacks a sufficient number of female athletes from diverse countries.

Jens Luras Oftebro
Jens Lurås Oftebro is one of the three individuals to win three gold medals at the Milan Cortina 2026 (Image via @Olympics on X)

Without women’s events, Nordic Combined in 2026 had three events, men’s normal and large hill, and then team sprint, all taking place in Val di Fiemme. The team sprint was, in fact, Jens Lurås Oftebro’s third gold of the tournament after winning both the normal hill and large hill events in the previous days. He said after the event:

It was more than I expected to get three golds. It was hard out there today, but [Skoglund and I] were strong even though it was tricky to stay on the skis and not crash.

It was also the third medal for Johannes Lamparter, who won silver behind Oftebro in both the men’s individual normal hill and large hill. Finland’s Ilkka Herola and Eero Hirvonen won bronze medals in the large hill and normal hil respectively. In short, all the medals in the event were scooped up by Norway, Austria, and Finland.

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