Espen Bredesen

Espen Bredesen (born 2 February 1968) is a Norwegian former ski jumper.

Career At World Cup level he won gold and silver medals at the 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer.

At the 1992 Winter Olympics, he performed badly, coming last in the normal hill and 57th out of 59 on the large hill. He had converted from the parallel technique to the V-style just a month previously. His poor performance gave him the nickname "Espen the Eagle", based on British ski jumper Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards.

At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1993 in Falun, he won gold medals both in the team large hill and the individual large hill events. In the 1993/94 season, he won the Four Hills Tournament. He won gold and silver medals at the 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer, and won a silver medal at the FIS Ski-Flying World Championships 1994 in Planica. Bredesen twice beat the world ski flying record with jumps of 209 meters (1994) and 210 meters (1997).

Bredesen also won the ski jumping competition at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 1993. He was awarded the Holmenkollen medal in 1994 (shared with Ljubov Egorova and Vladimir Smirnov).

World Cup

Standings Season Overall1989/90 — — — N/A N/A1990/91 34 21 23 N/A N/A1991/92 34 26 18 N/A N/A1992/93 5 33 5 N/A N/A1993/94 N/A N/A1994/95 15 21 13 N/A N/A 1995/96 13 21 10 N/A 131996/97 16 20 11 31 191997/98 43 45 26 — 551998/99 101 — — 55 991999/00 79 — — — 76

Wins No. Season Date Location Hill Size 1 1992/93 11 March 1993 Lillehammer Lysgårdsbakken K120 LH2 14 March 1993 Oslo Holmenkollbakken K110 LH3 28 March 1993 Planica Bloudkova velikanka K120 LH4 1993/94 11 December 1993 Planica Srednja Bloudkova K90 NH5 1 January 1994 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Große Olympiaschanze K107 LH6 6 January 1994 Bischofshofen Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K120 LH7 15 January 1994 Liberec Ještěd B K120 LH8 1994/95 5 February 1995 Falun Lugnet K90 (night) NH

Ski jumping world record

World record statement Bredesen's statement after his first world record in Planica 1994 when he jumped 209m: