“The Flying Mustache” hasn’t done it right in the last two seasons. Physical ailments had put an end to good results.

Johansson had no chance of reaching Saturday’s final, and she asked not to be interviewed. On Sunday he managed to go further, but ended up in 23rd place.

Now the experienced ski jumper from Lillehammer has opened up about his recurring problems with back prolapse and constant numbness in his right leg.

– When you feel like your feet are slacking in a sport that is so emotionally based, I know that sometimes it can be very difficult to keep your focus in the right place. And you will feel stressed because of it, Johansson openly told NRK.

– The body that stops me

In 2021, Johansson underwent her first prolapse surgery. The following year he had to come off the WC due to another prolapse – and a new back operation was required.

In a interview with Aftenposten at the end of the summer he was looking forward to the upcoming season. But even after two back operations, Lillehamringen has not been free from problems that returned around New Year.

The 32 year old player did not hide his frustration at facing a team that did not want to play in the team.

– There’s a little bit of fear mixed in with it. It’s terrible to lose contact with all the muscles. Then you also lose all power. Ability to tighten ankles – this is quite important when you do what you do, explains Johansson.

– Are you angry or afraid?

– A little bit of everything. I don’t know what I should have done differently. That’s probably what bothers me the most. After all, I had spent all my time making sure that I did what I had to do to get, first and foremost, a great back. Get your body working together, but also be able to ski. So it was the body that stopped me. This is bad luck, answered the honest jumper.

– Kit looked like someone had injected fluid

The 32-year-old said he didn’t feel any pain in his back, but he felt he had lost feeling in his right leg during the interview.

He explained that the feeling went away little by little.

This can happen, for example, when warming up or after a long journey in the car where it sat too badly.

– You’re a little hypersensitive to a number of things that shouldn’t be too sensitive when you do this, says Johansson.

The changes in the right leg are small, but clearly visible to the jumper:

– What’s strange is that it feels like someone has injected fluid. Simply insert the syringe just below the knee and cool. His calves felt bigger, deader. There isn’t a super big difference in terms of power, but you can see small differences. But it’s those small differences that you sometimes feel so well when you feel what your body feels.

– I’ve already tried doing the approach without feeling my right leg, and I have no plans to do it again, said Johansson.

Open for posting

Johansson is frustrated with the length of the recovery process and unsure of the future.

He clearly has confidence in what he does in terms of prevention and treatment training.

– The problem is that I don’t know how long it will take before it gets really good. This is a test of patience, when you feel that change should happen quickly. At the same time, I feel like I’m on the right track.

– Are you considering giving up at the end of the season?

– This might happen. We will see later. As long as I am “happy” with the decision, I think I will be happy, Johansson said and continued:

– At one point or another, you have to think like that. Whether it has arrived, I don’t know. I really want to get my body working, and I’m willing to try things and work harder. The problem is that the season is in full swing. At least I don’t have time to go home, lie on the couch and wait for it to pass.

Now the time for the WC is almost here, and Johansson has clear goals for himself and the team.

He stands with individual WC silver in the big hill (2021) and Olympic bronze in the big and normal (2018).

– So it’s very tempting to win an individual gold medal too, but I think it would be really cool to win a gold medal as a team. This applies to both mixed and team competitions for men, Johansson said.