Planica World Cup skiing on channels 22.2.–5.3.2023. See the program and broadcast information of the World Ski Championships at this link.
PLANICA. The skiing tracks of the World Cup have been talking since the first day of the competitions. The descents end with challenging turns, the tracks are soft, crashes and falls have been seen in every cross-country race.
The safety of the tracks and the actions of the race organizers hit the headlines at the latest on Friday, when Arsi Ruuskanen crashed dangerously into his billboard. Ruuskanen, who injured his leg, had to be hospitalized, but survived without any broken bones.
Among other things, Finland’s head coach Teemu Pasanen and Urheilu’s experts Kalle Lassila and Matias Strandvall questioned the safety of the tracks.
International skiing stars disagree. Urheilu asked a few skiers who participated in the women’s combined competition, and none of them considered the course dangerous.
– In my opinion, the track was quite good. Crashes happen on every track, said the United States Rosie Brennanwho lost his skis in the second round of the traditional.
Brennan said the skiers ahead of him were braking for the turns, so he was braking too. His ski apparently hit a block of ice and it broke the binding of the ski.
– In spring weather like this, the track is soft and there are crushed ice in the corners, but otherwise the track was fine.
Germany’s Pia Fink was even surprised at how good the track was, as he had expected something much worse.
– The bends were a bit deep and icy, which is why there have been so many crashes, but I got through them quite well myself, Fink said with relief.
The Swedish star thinks the downhills should be harder
Swedish stars Frida Karlsson and Linn Svahn emphasized that the conditions were very challenging in the day’s race. Both stated that they prefer the cold and hard surfaces.
– But this has been the case for the last World Cup. It has been warm, and you just have to control it, Svahn stated.
Svahn wasn’t even supposed to ski a combined race, so he hasn’t practiced that race track before. Svahn skied the track for the first time just before the start.
– I like those subordinates, I think they are easy. It becomes difficult when the skiers slow down and almost try to stop the speed. You have to go faster on the hills. As hard as you can, Svahn said with a laugh.
Karlsson also had the same opinion, who likes the challenge that hills bring. He believes that some of the crashes and falls have been caused by skiers not daring enough to descend.
– If you are afraid of lowering and raise your shoulders, then you are in a very unbalanced position. Instead, you should just attack those hills, Karlsson said.
One of the biggest surprises of the combined race, ninth-placed Italy Francesca Franchi found the track very difficult, but mostly because of the uphills. He had been afraid of the downhills beforehand, but he managed them very well in the end.
– I also had dreams about them last night, but in the end there were no problems. The track is completely safe, he assured.
Finns fall
Falling has been the trend of the Finnish national team in these games. Several falls were already seen in the sprint, in the men’s combined race, Ruuskanen also fell Perttu Hyvärinen and there were also falls in the women’s combined.
About Finnish women Kerttu Niskanen fell on the track during the warm-up and had to ski with some kind of stilt the whole race.
Eveliina Piippo instead, he had a hard time right at the beginning of the combined race, when another skier fell in front of him, and he didn’t have time to get past this.
However, in Piipo’s opinion, the bills are not bad. If there was more space, they would come in good stride, in his opinion.
– The road is so slow at the moment that it’s not bad – as long as the billboards are taken down, Piippo said.
After Ruuskanen’s crash, some of the advertising fences along the track were removed. It didn’t completely fix the problem – the women’s race also saw a mass crash, where one skier landed on the advertising wall.
Niskanen took the downhills carefully in the race and plowed from time to time. However, he also does not think the track is dangerous.
– Yes, it was all right, I just wanted to take them “safely”. Because if you fall, the race goes to that. The descents are just challenging and soft, but nothing catastrophic.