Three Finnish skiers were disqualified from the Skandinavia Cup on Saturday.
Markus Vuorela was one of the rejected Finns. PASI LEISMA
Markus Vuorela, Juuso Haarala and Petteri Koivisto was rejected on Saturday in the 20 km joint start race in Lillehammer. It was in the Scandinavian Cup competition.
– The rejections came from the tie-break in the shift skiing area, the responsible coach of the B national team Jussi Piiranen tells Iltalehte.
The trio therefore pushed for a draw in an area where it was necessary to advance by shift skiing. The men didn’t know that you weren’t allowed to ski with flat push in that area.
– At the team leaders’ meeting the night before, there was no information about the shift skiing area, nor was it shown on the map where it would be. That’s why we couldn’t tell the athletes about it, says Piirainen.
However, later in the evening, the race organizer had put a message in the general WhatsApp group that told about the shift skiing area.
– It was rather vaguely there and did not pop out, Piirainen says.
The message reached the skiers of other countries. Vuorela, Haarala and Koivisto were the only skiers who were disqualified from the race due to that rule violation.
“Too bad”
Vuorela, Haarala and Koivisto arrived at the finish line in 18th, 21st and 22nd place. They only found out about the disqualification after the race.
– Of course it upset them, Piirainen says.
Weren’t the men warned once during the race about the push-up?
– There were warnings from there, but they were sent to the WhatsApp group created by the organizers. During the competition, we had little else to do than check WhatsApp messages, so we didn’t get any information to the athletes. I noticed those warnings only after the race.
In Piirainen’s opinion, skiers should be told about the warning right away on the slopes and not send messages to some WhatsApp group.
– Absolutely. Or the organizers should be in direct contact with the coach or members of the Finnish team, who are on the track, that they know how to warn the athletes, but that information did not come this way.
The wreck trio went with the Finnish coaching staff after the race to the jury to explain the case.
– Yes, the jury understood that it was not an intentional act. After the discussion, they met again, but decided to keep the sanctions in place.