Mountain week continues on Tuesday in Innsbruck. Qualifying live on TV2, Areena and the app from 14:25. Live broadcast from Wednesday’s race at 14:25.
Goofing around in jump suits has heated up emotions during the hill week in Central Europe. The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet was amazed (you switch to another service) Polish at the end of the week Piotr Zylan a jumpsuit that seemed to form a huge air bag between the legs.
However, Zyla passed the International Ski Federation (FIS) rule check and finished sixth in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen event, which was jumped on New Year’s Day. Zyla is third in the hill week’s overall standings before the jumping competitions in Austria.
– It would be wrong to say that Zyla’s costume is against the rules because she has passed every inspection. But it looks like when she spreads her legs, the suit is dripping down. Correspondingly, the suit rises in the other direction, comments the Norwegian Olympic champion and Viaplay expert Andreas Stjernen.
So Zyla passed the rule check, but a Norwegian instead Marius Lindvik abandoned in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Three jumpers were already rejected in the Garmisch qualifying competition, one of the rejected was Eetu Nousiainen.
Finland’s head coach: “Less controversy than before”
Head coach of the Finnish hill team Janne Väätäinen says that there is no special buzz around jumpsuits Vello right now.
– I personally feel that there has been less polemic than before in the early season and during this hill week. It’s also worth remembering that things are always tried to be played through the media and to put pressure on competitors, Väätäinen pointed out.
The measurements also affected the Finnish team when Nousiainen was rejected in the qualifying competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
– Eetu had a little too much material on her stomach. I see it more as a positive thing that we are also starting to push the limits and we are looking for the best possible in terms of tools as well. When you go with enough limits, sometimes that happens, Väätäinen said.
Anssi Koivurantaa once coached Tuomas Virtanen drew attention to Finland over the weekend Vilho Palosaren into a jumpsuit.
– By the way, Vilho Palosaari is an exceptionally rough hill suit. How on earth can that go through, Virtanen, who is currently writing about hill jumping, wondered.
According to head coach Väätäinen, Palosaari, which acquired its first World Cup points at the turn of the week, has been closely monitored.
– Palosaari has been under control four times in a very short period of time and has come out with clean papers each time. We do things as well as possible and try to keep up with the competition, Väätäinen said.
I’ve been tired of jumpsuits for a long time
The debate about jump suits is by no means new in the world of ski jumping. Still piloting the national team of the united Finland last winter Petter Kukkonen violently clashed with the FIS over the rules for ski jumping suits.
This season, Kukkonen, who is working as Urheilu’s expert, is happy that the combined situation has now improved.
– In the combined game, I think the game has clearly leveled out, and I don’t think there have been any outrageous jump suits. In hill jumping, there are a lot of costumes that raise doubts and you can clearly see that we are at the limits, Kukkonen assesses what he saw.
There is plenty of room for improvement when you can see, even with a naked eye, that there are quite a few differences in the costumes of the jumpers.
– There should be a transparent system that everyone can trust, Kukkonen emphasized.
“Secret society activities behind closed doors”
Last season, a Finn was responsible for the equipment inspection of the International Ski Federation Mika Jukkarabut his run was short.
– Jukkara was a tough guy who figured out and got a bite out of that operating culture. But it was a shame that he left after only one year. There should have been a reason to make a slightly longer continuum, Kukkonen said.
Kukkonen sees that there are still significant deficiencies in the control of equipment, even though rule changes have been made for this season.
– Secret club activities, when one team at a time is tested behind closed doors. All measurements are secret, only FIS staff know the measurements. So there is no transparency at all, Kukkonen described.
– The measurement results should be public so that all teams can see the results. A neutral party should be involved in the measurement, i.e. someone other than a person from FIS or the competition teams. There is no external organization, you can only complain about things to FIS. It means that FIS then investigates its own problems.
According to Kukkonen, the athlete’s legal protection will not materialize because the actual measurement situation is not completely reliable either.
– I don’t think it’s terribly reliable. The measurement is made by a person whose point of view is always subjective. A person can easily make measurement errors, on the other hand, an athlete can manipulate the test situation, Kukkonen explained.
Kukkonen hopes that FIS would utilize the best technology so that there would be no more room for speculation.
– The moon has already been visited tens of years ago, but the human body cannot be reliably measured. The necessary technology would exist, but FIS has explained that transporting it is difficult and expensive. A lot of effort should be put into ensuring that athletes and teams feel that they are on the same page, Kukkonen emphasized.