After the mixed team competition of the ski jumpers could only be completed with great effort, the qualification for the men’s singles planned for Friday (03.02.2023) also falls victim to the weather in Willingen.
Due to the persistently strong wind conditions, the jury decided to cancel the qualification round for the first of two individual competitions this weekend. The qualification should now start at 2.45 p.m. before the individual competition on Saturday instead of the trial run, as the International Ski Federation (FIS) announced on Friday evening. The competition follows at 4:10 p.m.
Strong winds are still forecast for Saturday, but these are expected to ease somewhat over the course of the weekend.
Turbulent mixed competition
Strongly changing winds had already caused delays during the mixed competition again and again in the afternoon at the Mühlenkopfschanze. The first round with only 32 jumpers lasted almost 90 minutes. The round in which the German team finished third was barely over when the jury stopped the competition.
Ito and Zajc Gone with the Wind
“The wind changes very quickly”, race director Sandro Pertile described the problem on ARD. Sometimes it seemed almost calm in the outlet, then gusts blew up the slope again.
The Japanese Yuki Ito also noticed that, who sailed to 154.5 meters in a massive updraft and could not stand the furious flight. Timi Zajc was hit even harder by the gusts. The Slovenian flew an incredible 161.5 meters in a strong updraft and fell – the climax of a partly inglorious spectacle, even if Zajc apparently got away with the shock.