Lars Kristian Bystøl (born 4 December 1978) is a Norwegian former

ski jumper Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fin ...

who competed from 2002 to 2008. His career highlights include an individual gold medal at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

, one individual

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

victory, a gold medal in the Ski Flying World Championships, and two

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

bronze medals in team competitions.

Career

Bystøl won his first and only World Cup event on 4 January 2006, by winning the third event of the 2005–06

Four Hills Tournament The Four Hills Tournament () or the German-Austrian Ski Jumping Week () is a ski jumping event composed of four World Cup events and has taken place in Germany and Austria each year since 1953. With few exceptions, it has consisted of the ski ju ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

. Eleven days later, Bystøl won a gold medal in the team event at the 2006 Ski Flying World Championships in Bad Mitterndorf. He continued the World Cup season by placing between 10th and 20th in the next three individual events, before going to the

. He retained his top 15 position in the World Cup standings, which enabled him to qualify for the normal hill of the Olympics despite being disqualified in the qualifying run. Once there, he finished sixth in the first jump, but held on with a 103.5 metre second jump to win Olympic gold. Bystøl finished 13th overall in the 2005/06 World Cup standings.

World Cup

Standings

Wins

Substance abuse

In 2000, he was sent home from a Continental Cup competition in Innsbruck after a party on New Year's Eve. Later that year he was caught DUI with a 2.38‰

blood alcohol content Blood alcohol content (BAC), also called blood alcohol concentration or blood alcohol level, is a measurement of alcohol intoxication used for legal or medical purposes. BAC is expressed as mass of alcohol per volume of blood. In US and many i ...

. He was sentenced to 24 days in prison. In 2003, after some heavy drinking, he fell into the ocean during a fight. Bystøl's alcoholism became so bad that it caused him to be kicked off the national ski jumping team in 2004, though he later managed to reclaim his spot on the team. In early 2009, he admitted to having tested positive for

tetrahydrocannabinol Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is a cannabinoid found in cannabis. It is the principal psychoactive constituent of ''Cannabis'' and one of at least 113 total cannabinoids identified on the plant. Although the chemical formula for THC (C21H30O2) de ...

, a derivative of

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

. The sample was delivered in November 2008 in a Norwegian Cup race in

Vikersund Vikersund is a town of 3,232 (in 2020) inhabitants in the municipality capital of Modum, in the county of Buskerud, Norway. Overview Vikersund is located 30 kilometers south of Hønefoss and 40 kilometers northwest of Drammen. The village is l ...

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bystoel, Lars 1978 births Doping cases in ski jumping Living people Norwegian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Norway Norwegian sportspeople in doping cases Olympic ski jumpers for Norway Olympic gold medalists for Norway Olympic bronze medalists for Norway Sportspeople from Voss Ski jumpers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in ski jumping FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in ski jumping Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Skiers from Vestland