The ski jumpers need a lot of patience at the World Cup in Poland. In the end, they still can’t jump as planned.
The Ski Jumping World Cup in Szczyrk, Poland was canceled due to strong winds. After 40 of 50 jumpers in the first round and a total of around 105 minutes of competition time, the jury decided to take this rare step on Wednesday evening.
“It is always difficult to cancel a competition,” said race director Sandro Pertile from the World Federation Fis on ARD. “But you also have to be realistic. The weather forecast got worse and worse.” You have to accept the situation.
The competition should not be rescheduled, said Pertile. The next competition for Andreas Wellinger, Four Hills Tournament winner Ryoyu Kobayashi and his colleagues on the Poland Tour will take place as planned on Saturday in Zakopane.
Raimund: “I tried to dance”
At the time of the cancellation, the Pole Dawid Kubacki was in the lead after a jump of 98.5 meters on the normal hill. Stephan Leyhe was fourth as the best German. The best athletes around Wellinger, Kobayashi and the Austrian Stefan Kraft had not yet jumped. The competition will now be completely removed from the rankings.
Even before it was finally canceled, the event had to be interrupted frequently. “It’s very turbulent and difficult to jump,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher, describing the conditions.
In order to keep warm during the sometimes long waiting times, the jumpers sometimes got creative. “I tried to dance. You can hear the music from below above,” said Philipp Raimund with a smile. The 23-year-old said he had to wait around 20 minutes before he could jump. He described his own dancing talent as “very low”.