An American Olympic athlete faced an unusual challenge during competition in Italy this week when maintenance equipment got in his way at the worst possible moment.
Ben Loomis, competing for Team USA in Nordic combined, was struck by a leaf blower during Thursday’s Olympic team sprint event in Predazzo, Italy. The collision occurred as Loomis pushed off from the starting position for his ski jump when an official didn’t move the equipment quickly enough.
Officials have been using the leaf blowers throughout the ski jumping events to remove loose snow from the track, positioning workers along the course to operate the machines between each athlete’s attempt.
The equipment made contact with Loomis’s shoulder, leaving marks on his competition outfit but causing no physical injury. The bizarre incident didn’t throw off the American athlete, who went on to place seventh in the event with his partner Niklas Malacinski and handled the situation with good humor.
“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 told Reuters.
Olympic officials gave Loomis the option to repeat his jump following the collision, but he chose not to take the do-over. His decision was influenced partly by deteriorating snow conditions that might have made the track slower for a second attempt.
“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,” he said.
