U.S. ski jumper Casey Larson jumps into history books as 100,000th male Olympic competitor

Travis Mewhirter

Following his Thursday run in the qualifier for the ski jump at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, Casey Larson stood at once in both an unremarkable position and an historic one.

Larson, a 19-year-old Illinois native and Olympic rookie, sat 46th out of 57 in the standings. In the history books, however, he became the 100,000th male athlete to compete in the Olympics in the 122 years of modern games, according to Olympic historian Bill Mallon.

Heading into PyeongChang, a total of 99,983 male athletes had competed in Olympic Games, meaning that the 17th male to compete in this year’s games would become Mr. 100,000.

Casey Larson can be known as Mr. 100,000 of the Olympic Games (AP)
Casey Larson can be known as Mr. 100,000 of the Olympic Games (AP)

While Larson isn’t a medal favorite, his jump of 88 meters was enough to land him in the finals. All four U.S. men — Larson, Mike Glasder, Will Rhoads, and Kevin Bickner — made Saturday’s finals, though it should also be noted that only seven of the original field of 57 failed to make it through.

Larson, who competed in the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, was one of the final athletes to qualify for PyeongChang, doing so via his performance on the World Cup and Continental Cup circuits.

German Andreas Wellinger currently leads the standings with 133.5 points after a jump of 103 meters. Poland’s Kamil Stoch and Dawid Kubacki are in second and third, respectively. Bickner leads the U.S. in 25th, while Glasder stands in 40th, and Rhoads 45th.

Larson, of course, is 46th — and 100,000th.

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