Daniel-André Tande: Coming back against all odds

Nothing at all.

That’s what Norwegian ski jumper Daniel-André Tande remembers of his horrific crash at Planica earlier this year.

“I think that’s for the best,” the 27-year-old says in an interview with the official channel of the Norwegian ski jumping team (aka 'Hopplandslaget'), reflecting on an accident that saw him placed in a medically induced coma for four days.

Ahead of the World Cup final in Slovenia early this March, the Norwegian overcorrected his form mid-air while on a training run. The slight adjustment disrupted his balance and ultimately caused him to come crashing down to earth picking up multiple injuries in his wake.

Just over half a year since the day his whole world literally turned upside down, Tande officially made his triumphant return to the sport in September and is now back competing in the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup.

The 2018 Olympic champion’s desire to be back on skis and leaping once again, he insists, began the very moment he woke up in hospital bed in Ljubljana. His body, however, given the extent of its injuries needed a little more time to catch up with his ambitions.

With the full backing of his coach, team doctors, and family Tande can now be found beaming on the hill continuing to get back in touch with the form that saw him lift the world championship ski flying team gold just last year.

His enthusiasm and brilliant smile, a world away from the man who lay practically lifeless in snow nearly nine months ago.

Planica 2021: Tande suffers nightmare crash

“In the first phase of the jump, where I’m about to connect with the skis, the angle of my skis is too flat, and the pressure on the skis is too much,” the 2018 individual world Ski Flying champion explained, having watched the replay of his accident over a hundred times.

“I try to push my skis a little bit away from my body, but I push my left ski too much.”

Too much, too little.

When it comes to a sport born out of the human desire to soar through the skies, the finest of margins are the difference between thrilling success and crumbling failure. Unfortunately for the Norwegian, that day, his tiny bit of tinkering with his technique mid-flight triggered a complete loss of control.

Floundering mid-flight as he loses both shape and balance, you can trace the moment Tande’s instincts kick in and he immediately prepares for what he knows will be a bone-crunching fall. He tucks elbows into his stomach, bracing for his oncoming collision with the snow.

Just 25 metres away, Tande’s jumping manager Clas Brede Bråthen looked on in dread as he watched his athlete hit the hill:

“I immediately see that he does everything right,” the coach told Good Morning Norway. “But I also see that he is beaten unconscious the moment he hits the ground because I see that his body becomes rubber-like.”

Bråthen rushed out to join the first aiders immediately attending to his athlete. “What do I have to prepare for?” The coach remembers asking the doctor on the scene.

“You have to prepare for the very, very worst,” he replied.

Daniel-André Tande: Waking from his coma into the unknown

Four cerebral haemorrhages, a punctured lung and two broken bones in the left collarbone.

The list of major injuries resulting from Tande’s crash.

After receiving treatment on the hill for some 30 minutes, a helicopter came and airlifted the ski jumper straight to hospital where he was put into a coma.

“When you’re in a coma, it’s easier to control the body temperature,” continued the 2018 team Olympic champion.

“The first thing I remember is that mum and Anja [Tande’s girlfriend] came to visit me at the hospital in Ljublijana. At that point I felt like I remembered why I was there.”

“I cried a lot when I saw them for the first time. It was difficult to come out of a coma and get a lot of information about the extent of the damage. To have the people I love the most there was good.”

It wasn’t just Tande feeling an overwhelming sense of relief as he returned to consciousness. His family and partner were all too delighted to recognise the man they knew return from his artificial coma:

“My family and my girlfriend were afraid because one of the bleeding points was in the front left part of my brain. That’s the same area that controls your personality and focus. So, if the bleeding was big enough, I could’ve woken up as a different person.”

Fortunately for everyone involved the worst-case scenario did not play out, and Tande had survived the worst.

Daniel-André Tande: Ski jumping’s comeback king

After the Norwegian recovered from his brain injuries he later returned to hospital for an operation on his shattered collarbone.

The injury was much worse than initially anticipated. 10 titanium screws had to be fitted to ensure that his collarbone can heal properly into place.

Though the ski jumper admits there is still some discomfort as his body adjusts to its new metal reinforcements, the Norwegian cannot hide his joy at finally being allowed to compete once more in the sport he loves.

“It was awful,” Tande shared with the FIS describing the wait to get back to ski jumping.

“Of course, I felt that I was ready to jump long before I was given the green light. It was difficult for me to just watch my team-mates jump. Now I’m finally back and it’s just amazing.”

As for whether the decorated ski jumper is in some way scarred by his experience he was keen to insist that to 'Good Morning Norway' that he isn’t:

“I do not want to say that I have no fears. Of course, you have respect for what you are doing, but it is a big difference to have respect for what you do and to be afraid of what you are doing. If you had been scared, you would now have been able to perform at the level you achieved so far.”

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