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{"id":2737,"date":"2020-07-29T15:24:05","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T15:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iceatrail.com\/?page_id=2737"},"modified":"2020-12-06T20:11:47","modified_gmt":"2020-12-06T20:11:47","slug":"mani-cooper","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iceatrail.com\/mani-cooper\/","title":{"rendered":"Mani Cooper"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
Team GB’s first female Nordic combined Olympic athlete Mani Cooper talks about the unique identity of her sport, and training during lockdown: \u201cYou learn to listen to yourself and train what you need to train.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\u201cI am not a ski jumper, I’m a Nordic Combined athlete, and that’s what some people don’t understand.”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\u00a0By Paul McGee, Head Feature Writer. August 1 2020<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Despite being a British winter athlete, and despite the fact that she flies through the air on skis, there are a couple of good reasons why Mani Cooper doesn’t like being compared to Eddie The Eagle Edwards.<\/p>
It’s nothing personal.<\/p>
For one thing at 16 (she is now 17), Mani Cooper jumped 74.5m, 3m further than Edwards managed in his career. In other words, while Edwards made a unique contribution to the 1988 Calgary winter Olympics, and doubtless opened a few eyes to an event not quite among the marquee sports at that year’s Games, his prospects in the world rankings were far from auspicious – as he’d be the first to admit.<\/p>
Mani Cooper, on the other hand, is launching a serious assault on her sport.<\/p>
But the very identity of her sport is the reason why she doesn’t want to stand in the shadow of GB’s most famous ski jump athlete. Of any ski jump athlete for that matter.<\/p>
Because Mani Cooper is not a ski jumper. She is a Nordic combined athlete.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Despite being a British winter athlete, and despite the fact that she flies through the air on skis, there are a couple of good reasons why Mani Cooper doesn’t like being compared to Eddie The Eagle Edwards.<\/strong><\/p>
It’s nothing personal.<\/strong><\/p>
For one thing at 16 (she is now 17), Mani Cooper jumped of 74.5m, 3m further than Edwards managed in his career. In other words, while Edwards made a unique contribution to the 1988 Calgary winter Olympics, and doubtless opened a few eyes to an event not quite among the marquee sports at that year’s Games, his prospects in the world rankings were far from auspicious – as he’d be the first to admit.<\/strong><\/p>
Mani Cooper, on the other hand, is launching a serious assault on her sport.<\/strong><\/p>
But the very identity of her sport is the reason why she doesn’t want to stand in the shadow of GB’s most famous ski jump athlete. Of any ski jump athlete for that matter.<\/strong><\/p>
Because Mani Cooper is not a ski jumper. She is a Nordic combined athlete.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Nordic combined is an event first contested in 1892, and introduced for men only at the inaugural 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France.<\/p>
Competitors used to race over a cross country course, then take part in the ski jump discipline. In the 1950s the two elements were reversed to avoid an often insurmountable lead built up over the cross country portion \u2013 in other words, the Nordic Combined event was often won and lost before the second half got underway.<\/span><\/p>
Jumping styles have changed a few times over the decades, evolving into the classic V technique we\u2019ve witnessed since the 1980s, and the cross country race (at the Winter Olympics anyway) employs the Gundersen method, in other words a pursuit race: whoever scores the most points in the ski jump starts first, with the remaining jumpers starting at appropriate intervals thereafter. Whoever crosses the finish line first in the cross country portion, therefore, wins the event.<\/span><\/p>
It’s a world apart from ski-jumping alone and that, as much as anything else, is why if Mani wasn\u2019t so polite she\u2019d probably slap her forehead every time someone asked her about Eddie the Eagle. (We’re talking by telephone and she might well be I suppose, but she’s doing it very quietly if at all).<\/p>
\u201cWell first of all I am not a ski jumper,\u201d Mani tells me. \u201cI\u2019m a Nordic combined athlete, and that\u2019s what some people don\u2019t understand, which I want to get out there, that I\u2019m not just a ski jumper. I\u2019m not ski jumper standard, and Nordic combined athletes aren\u2019t at the same standard as a ski jumper. I\u2019m a Nordic combined athlete with two different sports. But I don\u2019t really want to be looked at like Eddie the Eagle, if you understand what I mean. I want to be taken seriously. I mean Eddie the Eagle, he did his part, and I did actually meet him once at my home hill – and I did jump further than him! Eddie’s a really nice guy but I\u2019m a Nordic combined athlete and I don\u2019t want to be seen as Eddie the Eagle\u2019s follow-up. I don\u2019t want to be that person – and I\u2019m not that person.\u201d<\/p>
The matter of identity is paramount here, to be promoted as much as preserved.<\/p>
Those paying attention will have noted that as a sport, Nordic Combined featured at the very first Winter Olympics back in 1924, for men only. Of course, times have changed and probably after a few decades, women competed too. Right?<\/p>
Actually, not. Not in the few decades proceeding the Chamonix Games, or for the remainder of the century.<\/p>
Or, in fact, ever. Not at the senior Games anyway.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Nordic combined is an event first contested in 1892, and introduced for men only at the inaugural 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France.<\/strong><\/p>
Competitors used to race over a cross country course, then take part in the ski jump discipline. In the 1950s the two elements were reversed to avoid an often insurmountable lead built up over the cross country portion \u2013 in other words, the Nordic Combined event was often won and lost before the second half got underway.<\/strong><\/p>
Jumping styles have changed a few times over the decades, evolving into the classic V technique we\u2019ve witnessed since the 1980s, and the cross country race (at the Winter Olympics anyway) employs the Gundersen method, in other words a pursuit race: whoever scores the most points in the ski jump starts first, with the remaining jumpers starting at appropriate intervals thereafter. Whoever crosses the finish line first in the cross country portion, therefore, wins the event.<\/strong><\/p>
It’s a world apart from ski-jumping alone and that, as much as anything else, is why if Mani wasn\u2019t so polite she\u2019d probably slap her forehead every time someone asked her about Eddie the Eagle. (We’re talking by telephone and she might well be I suppose, but she’s doing it very quietly if at all).<\/strong><\/p>
\u201cWell first of all I am not a ski jumper,\u201d Mani tells me. \u201cI\u2019m a Nordic combined athlete, and that\u2019s what some people don\u2019t understand, which I want to get out there, that I\u2019m not just a ski jumper. I\u2019m not ski jumper standard, and Nordic combined athletes aren\u2019t at the same standard as a ski jumper. I\u2019m a Nordic combined athlete with two different sports. But I don\u2019t really want to be looked at like Eddie the Eagle, if you understand what I mean. I want to be taken seriously. I mean Eddie the Eagle, he did his part, and I did actually meet him once at my home hill – and I did jump further than him! Eddie’s a really nice guy but I\u2019m a Nordic combined athlete and I don\u2019t want to be seen as Eddie the Eagle\u2019s follow-up. I don\u2019t want to be that person – and I\u2019m not that person.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>
The matter of identity is paramount here, to be promoted as much as preserved. Those paying attention will have noted that as a sport, Nordic Combined featured at the very first Winter Olympics back in 1924, for men only. Of course, times have changed and probably after a few decades, women competed too. Right?<\/strong><\/p>
Actually, not. Not in the few decades proceeding the Chamonix Games, or for the remainder of the century.<\/strong><\/p>
Or, in fact, ever. Not at the senior Games anyway.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Women’s Nordic Combined was slated to make its debut at the upcoming Beijing Games in 2022, but at the time of writing it’s been pushed back until 2026.<\/p>
After the sigh comes the breath of optimism though, because the FIS are working to redress the gender balance with a women’s world cup season for 2020\/21, including a World Championships event. And, albeit bringing up the rear, the International Olympic Committee has at least dipped a toe in the waters of female Nordic Combined.<\/p>
To quote Nelson Mandela: “The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.”<\/p>
It is fitting, then, that female Nordic combined’s Olympic debut was at this year’s Youth Winter Olympics in Lausanne. In fact, while women haven’t competed on the senior circuit, there was a youth FIS World Cup season this year too.<\/p>
So it is as one of tomorrow’s leaders that Mani Cooper carries the weight of the future on her shoulders, and as I talk to her it dawns on me that she is truly icing a trail, making her a most appropriate guest for us. It is no understatement to say that as a female Nordic combined athlete at an Olympic event, she was a 16 year old history maker.<\/p>
The gravity of the occasion six months ago isn’t lost on her.<\/p>
“It was an amazing experience. And there\u2019s one thing which I\u2019ll never forget, which was during the cross country race, going up into the first climb: the crowd. It was so loud \u2013 really, really loud. I couldn\u2019t even hear myself breathing, puffing. It gives me shivers now when I think about it, I have to say. But the whole experience of it all was amazing.\u201d<\/p>
Racing for the first time in front of a full scale, high octane international crowd made its impression.<\/p>
\u201cIt definitely gives you an extra push. I mean you\u2019re still concentrating on your technique and getting up but it\u2019s something completely different, it\u2019s definitely a different feeling.\u201d<\/p>
Mani Cooper has come a long way in a very short space of time. She has eyes on competing at the women’s Nordic combined Olympic debut in, presumably, 2026. And in the more immediate future the 2020\/2021 season is looming: for the first time in history women will compete on the FIS world Cup circuit and World Championships. But when Mani made her first jump she wasn’t even aware of the sport she now represents.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Women’s Nordic Combined was slated to make its debut at the upcoming Beijing Games in 2022, but at the time of writing it’s been pushed back until 2026.<\/strong><\/p>
After the sigh comes the breath of optimism though, because the FIS are working to redress the gender balance with a women’s world cup season for 2020\/21, including a World Championships event. And, albeit bringing up the rear, the International Olympic Committee has at least dipped a toe in the waters of female Nordic Combined.<\/strong><\/p>
To quote Nelson Mandela: “The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.”<\/strong><\/p>
It is fitting, then, that female Nordic combined’s Olympic debut was at this year’s Youth Winter Olympics in Lausanne. In fact, while women haven’t competed on the senior circuit, there was a youth FIS World Cup season this year too.<\/strong><\/p>
So it is as one of tomorrow’s leaders that Mani Cooper carries the weight of the future on her shoulders, and as I talk to her it dawns on me that she is truly icing a trail, making her a most appropriate guest for us. It is no understatement to say that as a female Nordic combined athlete at an Olympic event, she was a 16 year old history maker.<\/strong><\/p>
The gravity of the occasion six months ago isn’t lost on her.<\/strong><\/p>
“It was an amazing experience. And there\u2019s one thing which I\u2019ll never forget, which was during the cross country race, going up into the first climb: the crowd. It was so loud \u2013 really, really loud. I couldn\u2019t even hear myself breathing, puffing. It gives me shivers now when I think about it, I have to say. But the whole experience of it all was amazing.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>
Racing for the first time in front of a full scale, high octane international crowd made its impression.<\/strong><\/p>
\u201cIt definitely gives you an extra push. I mean you\u2019re still concentrating on your technique and getting up but it\u2019s something completely different, it\u2019s definitely a different feeling.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>
Mani Cooper has come a long way in a very short space of time. She has eyes on competing at the women’s Nordic combined Olympic debut in, presumably, 2026. And in the more immediate future the 2020\/2021 season is looming: for the first time in history women will compete on the FIS world Cup circuit and World Championships. But when Mani made her first jump she wasn’t even aware of the sport she now represents.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\u201cSo I didn\u2019t actually know that Nordic combined was a sport, to be honest, when we first moved to Austria in 2012,\u201d Mani tells me, somewhat assuaging my sense of inadequacy over an up-to-now naivety of the sport. \u201cI watched the Four Hills Tournament with my dad on Bergisel, which is in Innsbruck \u2013 a ski jump hill \u2013 and I told him that I wanted to try it. And I started with my club SV Innsbruck Bergisel \u2013 ski jumping \u2013 and then two years later I got into the Tyrolean Ski Federation. And they want the kids \u2013 they want the athletes \u2013 to do Nordic Combined, so they introduce it to them and then the athletes decide which direction they go. And I realised: that was the sport for me \u2013 I\u2019d found my sport. Ski jumping on its own was a bit boring I have to say \u2013 well it\u2019s not boring<\/i>, I just knew that something was missing. And also it’s good when you\u2019ve got the cross country side of the sport, because if you have a bad jumping competition, you can make it up with a good race.\u201d<\/p>
It is that diversity which appeals to Nordic combiners. They thrive on the arrant disparity between distance skiing and jumping. It’s not the one or the other, but the combination of the two. The clue’s in the name I guess. It explains why Mani Cooper isn’t overwhelmed at her status as GB’s national record holder for women’s ski jumping. Okay, as a British lady who jumps (note the careful terminology) Mani is in sparse company, but the point is: getting the national record is not as important as perfecting overall technique.<\/p>
\u201cI have to say, I\u2019ve never been looking to get a national record to be honest with you \u2013 I\u2019m thrilled that I\u2019ve got it, I\u2019m honoured, but at the end of the day I\u2019m just trying my best, trying to jump further, trying to get my personal best, but also doing it correctly if you know what I mean \u2013 there are so many technical points in ski jumping. It\u2019s not just jumping far. One has trainings where you don\u2019t even get down to the bottom of the hill. There are trainings where in the in-run you\u2019re not in the actual tuck position. We\u2019re doing different exercises to get the correct tuck position, to get the jump-off right if you know what I mean. So those parts of the jump, when you get a personal record or the national record, that\u2019s when it\u2019s all come together from the technical training.\u201d<\/p>
Not that training has been along conventional lines of late. Every athlete has found their habitual routine knocked somewhat off-piste by coronavirus. Gyms have been closed and until recently social distancing has meant all forms of group training were out the window. Like a lot of athletes though, Mani Cooper has adapted – even thrived.<\/p>
\u201cI think with social distancing, it\u2019s not been nice what\u2019s been happening in the world, but I have to say it\u2019s been a very good time for me. Because I have learned to listen to myself, and I\u2019ve been training at home \u2013 as well as I could. I was on the rollers on my road bike at home, out in the mountains running \u2013 we were lucky that we could do that – and just getting on with the training. I mean, one had the time for example to do two sessions a day, and yes there was the school work, and then getting back into the whole routine, the whole system, because we had a month and a half back at school when we had training every day, and that was a massive change then, but for many athletes it\u2019s been good \u2013 you learn to listen to yourself and train what you need to train.<\/p>
\u201cMy family are very sporty and we\u2019re really training together \u2013 I\u2019ve been running and road biking with my sister, we\u2019re pushing each other, and that\u2019s been awesome. It just gives you that extra bit when you\u2019re going for a hard training session and you\u2019ve got people around you who aren\u2019t in your trainings group if you get what I mean, that push you that extra bit, that make you stronger. And then when you get back to the trainings group, you push each other again.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cSo I didn\u2019t actually know that Nordic combined was a sport, to be honest, when we first moved to Austria in 2012,\u201d Mani tells me, somewhat assuaging my sense of inadequacy over an up-to-now naivety of the sport. \u201cI watched the Four Hills Tournament with my dad on Bergisel, which is in Innsbruck \u2013 a ski jump hill \u2013 and I told him that I wanted to try it. And I started with my club SV Innsbruck Bergisel \u2013 ski jumping \u2013 and then two years later I got into the Tyrolean Ski Federation. And they want the kids \u2013 they want the athletes \u2013 to do Nordic Combined, so they introduce it to them and then the athletes decide which direction they go. And I realised: that was the sport for me \u2013 I\u2019d found my sport. Ski jumping on its own was a bit boring I have to say \u2013 well it\u2019s not boring, I just knew that something was missing. And also it’s good when you\u2019ve got the cross country side of the sport, because if you have a bad jumping competition, you can make it up with a good race.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>
It is that diversity which appeals to Nordic combiners. They thrive on the arrant disparity between distance skiing and jumping. It’s not the one or the other, but the combination of the two. The clue’s in the name I guess. It explains why Mani Cooper isn’t overwhelmed at her status as GB’s national record holder for women’s ski jumping. Okay, as a British lady who jumps (note the careful terminology) Mani is in sparse company, but the point is: getting the national record is not as important as perfecting overall technique.<\/strong><\/p>
\u201cI have to say, I\u2019ve never been looking to get a national record to be honest with you \u2013 I\u2019m thrilled that I\u2019ve got it, I\u2019m honoured, but at the end of the day I\u2019m just trying my best, trying to jump further, trying to get my personal best, but also doing it correctly if you know what I mean \u2013 there are so many technical points in ski jumping. It\u2019s not just jumping far. One has trainings where you don\u2019t even get down to the bottom of the hill. There are trainings where in the in-run you\u2019re not in the actual tuck position. We\u2019re doing different exercises to get the correct tuck position, to get the jump-off right if you know what I mean. So those parts of the jump, when you get a personal record or the national record, that\u2019s when it\u2019s all come together from the technical training.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>
Not that training has been along conventional lines of late. Every athlete has found their habitual routine knocked somewhat off-piste by coronavirus. Gyms have been closed and until recently social distancing has meant all forms of group training were out the window. Like a lot of athletes though, Mani Cooper has adapted – even thrived.<\/strong><\/p>
\u201cI think with social distancing, it\u2019s not been nice what\u2019s been happening in the world, but I have to say it\u2019s been a very good time for me. Because I have learned to listen to myself, and I\u2019ve been training at home \u2013 as well as I could. I was on the rollers on my road bike at home, out in the mountains running \u2013 we were lucky that we could do that – and just getting on with the training. I mean, one had the time for example to do two sessions a day, and yes there was the school work, and then getting back into the whole routine, the whole system, because we had a month and a half back at school when we had training every day, and that was a massive change then, but for many athletes it\u2019s been good \u2013 you learn to listen to yourself and train what you need to train.<\/strong><\/p>
\u201cMy family are very sporty and we\u2019re really training together \u2013 I\u2019ve been running and road biking with my sister, we\u2019re pushing each other, and that\u2019s been awesome. It just gives you that extra bit when you\u2019re going for a hard training session and you\u2019ve got people around you who aren\u2019t in your trainings group if you get what I mean, that push you that extra bit, that make you stronger. And then when you get back to the trainings group, you push each other again.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
For all Nordic combined’s obvious appeal to Mani Cooper, I’m still in awe of those unusual athletes who need the explosive bang of ski jumping and<\/i> the lung busting slog of cross country. It’s like Usain Bolt smashing the 100m world record in 9.58 blistering seconds, then trotting back out for the following day’s marathon.<\/p>
And yet Mani sounds<\/i> perfectly sane. So, given Nordic combined’s unique and frankly daunting identity, I wonder what advice she might have for someone looking to follow her along that ground-breaking trail.<\/p>
\u201cI would go to a ski jumping hill and just let yourself off the hill. My first jump was off a ten metre hill and I was just falling off the end. You go down the in-run, and you let yourself drop. It sounds quite scary but it\u2019s really not! You go down it, it\u2019s really slow, and it\u2019s an amazing amount of fun. You just have to keep on it. And the cross country side of things is just so fun. It frees your mind, you can push yourself, and the sport itself is two different combinations. Cross country you need endurance. You go out running, even just running on the roads, even if you\u2019re not on your roller skis or cross country skis; ski jumping you can do loads of jumps \u2013 or go trampolining. If someone likes trampolining it’s great. You know, you can do loads of different things \u2013 it\u2019s not just ski jumping and cross country skiing, there are loads of different little sections alongside the sport which help, so just go out there and give it a go.<\/p>
\u201cWe have days where we do weights, where we do gym work and then the next day we\u2019ll be on the ski jumping hill and then we\u2019ll be on the cross country skis. That would be a normal kind of schedule for us, doing the weights and then the next day, endurance training.\u201d<\/p>
That\u2019s a training schedule unlike anything Eddie Edwards would have followed. More importantly, and with respect to Eddie (and I do respect The Eagle, massively) it is a training schedule unlike anything one Daniela Iraschko-Stolz would follow – and she\u2019s the Austrian legend who\u2019s held the women\u2019s ski jump world record of 200m since 2003.<\/p>
But then, she only has to jump.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For all Nordic combined’s obvious appeal to Mani Cooper, I’m still in awe of those unusual athletes who need the explosive bang of ski jumping and the lung busting slog of cross country. It’s like Usain Bolt smashing the 100m world record in 9.58 blistering seconds, then trotting back out for the following day’s marathon.<\/strong><\/p>
And yet Mani sounds perfectly sane. So, given Nordic combined’s unique and frankly daunting identity, I wonder what advice she might have for someone looking to follow her along that ground-breaking trail.<\/strong><\/p>
\u201cI would go to a ski jumping hill and just let yourself off the hill. My first jump was off a ten metre hill and I was just falling off the end. You go down the in-run, and you let yourself drop. It sounds quite scary but it\u2019s really not! You go down it, it\u2019s really slow, and it\u2019s an amazing amount of fun. You just have to keep on it. And the cross country side of things is just so fun. It frees your mind, you can push yourself, and the sport itself is two different combinations. Cross country you need endurance. You go out running, even just running on the roads, even if you\u2019re not on your roller skis or cross country skis; ski jumping you can do loads of jumps \u2013 or go trampolining. If someone likes trampolining it’s great. You know, you can do loads of different things \u2013 it\u2019s not just ski jumping and cross country skiing, there are loads of different little sections alongside the sport which help, so just go out there and give it a go.<\/strong><\/p>
\u201cWe have days where we do weights, where we do gym work and then the next day we\u2019ll be on the ski jumping hill and then we\u2019ll be on the cross country skis. That would be a normal kind of schedule for us, doing the weights and then the next day, endurance training.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>
That\u2019s a training schedule unlike anything Eddie Edwards would have followed. More importantly, and with respect to Eddie (and I do respect The Eagle, massively) it is a training schedule unlike anything one Daniela Iraschko-Stolz would follow – and she\u2019s the Austrian legend who\u2019s held the women\u2019s ski jump world record of 200m since 2003.<\/strong><\/p>
But then, she only has to jump.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/iceatrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Mani-Cooper-jumping-2-853x1024.jpg\")
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