Ben Loomis of Team USA finished 10th in the Nordic combined team sprint ski jumping trial round on Thursday. Loomis's distance of 123.5 meters was a half-meter behind his teammate Niklas Malacinski. He might have caught him, but he ran into a leaf blower on his way down the big hill.
With the snow falling early and often throughout the Milan Cortina Games, people with leaf blowers have become a common sight at the 2026 Winter Olympics. At the Predazzo Ski Jumping Stadium they've been tasked with keeping the tracks clear for the ski jumpers. They blow away the snow and pull back the leaf blowers right before the skiers come flying down the ramp.
