Kenneth Gangnes, who sustained his fourth ACL tear last November, now has to further delay his long-awaited comeback due to a thigh injury.

"I will not jump until I feel I'm at 100 %. I have to be completely ready before I jump again. Due to the thigh problems, this is not the case at the moment”, says the Norwegian. "It looks as if I have a strain injury. I don't know when I can jump again. It may take a few days but it can also take several weeks. Maybe it will not be before there's snow, but I don't rule out an sooner comeback either."

The 29-year-old, who was third in the 2015/16 overall World Cup, suffered many setbacks due to injuries during the course of his career and can hardly wait to return to the hill and be back with his team. "It's hard to be on the sidelines for so long. It's difficult to watch the other guys during the summer season, while I do not have the chance to do what I love most in life: Ski jumping. I've spent so much time and energy and I'm still not allowed to do what I want. I miss traveling with my teammates. It's strange to take the clothes out of the closet when you're used to living out of a bag."

Kenneth Gangnes' goal for the upcoming winter season is to achieve good results in the World Cup. The World Championships in Seefeld and the RAW AIR Tour in Norway also give him additional motivation on his long way back from yet another serious injury.

"This has not been the summer we wanted"

Also apart from the even longer break for Kenneth Gangnes, the summer didn't go as planned for the Norwegian ski jumpers.

"This summer really didn't go the way we hoped it would", explains Clas-Brede Brathen, the athletic director for Ski Jumping of the Norwegian Ski Association. "We never had our entire team together, because somebody was always injured. Unfortunately, this has meant that we have not been able to give the same priority to the summer competitions as we would normally do. We couldn't even take part in two of the competitions. 

Besides Kenneth, Johann Andre Forfang and Andreas Stjernen were also injured this summer, Daniel Andre Tande has suffered from a severe illness. 

We have received a proper lesson at the final in Klingenthal when two of our athletes were disqualified. It’s not good for the athletes that we have not been on-site often enough", Brathen analyses the fact that Ski Flying World Champion Daniel Andre Tande and team Olympic champion Robert Johansson were disqualified in Tuesday's qualification in Klingenthal because their suits were not compliant to the rules.

Source: fis-ski.com