The ski jumping hill in Vikersund was the scene of a long wait on Saturday due to bad weather. First of all, the women’s ski flying World Cup premiere had to be canceled in the morning. Afterwards, the men’s competition for Saturday was canceled in the afternoon. However, Stefan Kraft is not yet the overall World Cup winner early, as Saturday’s competition will be held on Sunday (11.05 a.m.) with just one flight when the weather is expected to be much better.
According to the new “Raw Air” regulations, the second men’s World Cup competition will take place as planned as a “superfinal” in three rounds (top 30, then top 20, then top 10). “The wind conditions were still extremely unstable, the last information was 13 meters per second and that is extremely too much,” said race director Sandro Pertile in an ORF TV interview.
“Right decision”
ÖSV men’s head coach Andreas Widhölzl also saw it that way. “Basically it was the right decision, it was very turbulent and very changeable. It would also have been dangerous. We are happy that we now have two competitions tomorrow. The weather for tomorrow is good,” said the Tyrolean. In addition, the athletes are already tired at the end of the season. “You don’t have to force anything anymore.”
“I did everything right today, I didn’t waste a lot of energy today,” said World Cup leader Kraft, who had not expected to compete. “If tomorrow is perfect, it will definitely be better. Four times tomorrow – we had that too at the Kulm, we can handle it. It would be nice if I could fix it tomorrow,” said Kraft, referring to the almost decisive battle for the big crystal ball.
Mammoth program awaits
The jury had already waited a while with the women in the morning, but then gave up. World Cup defending champion Eva Pinkelnig supported the cancellation. “It’s totally windy conditions. They’re starting to tie things down here in the run-out.” She wouldn’t mind two competitions on Sunday. “Of course we would all like that. Everyone is in favor of us even having two World Cups.”
This wish did not come true, the women remain with the original Sunday program with a competition scheduled for 10 a.m. CET. The men start at 11:05 with the first competition (1 round), followed by their second competition at 3:30 p.m. (3 rounds).