Kubacki robbed of victory? A member of the jury explains the key decision

It was a strange and rather unsavory finale of Saturday’s World Cup competition. Dawid Kubacki lost to Anze Lanisk by 3.3 points, but in a fair, equal fight. In terms of the fourth victory this season, the Pole was mainly hindered by a slightly better distance and scores for style than the Slovene.

But there is no need to argue: it was Lanisek who jumped on Grosse Titlis a bit better that day, and although Kubacki was close to enjoying the win, the victory of one of his greatest rivals is not surprising. It is a pity that the jump of Thomas Thurnbichler from the second series was held up for a long time, which was complained about by the trainer himself and which may be a bit of a controversy.

Thurnbichler’s eloquent words after Kubacki’s final jump. “I’ll be honest”

– I’ll be honest, I don’t know why David had to wait so long to give his jump. Everything was in the corridor. I don’t know why the green light didn’t come. In the end, he had to move on and had a good jump, although not one of his best on this hill, assessed Thurnbichler after the competition.

“The conditions have gotten a little worse there, too. Such is the sport, I think that considering these conditions, I managed well anyway – although he still did not know what the situation was before his jump. And the truth is, it was too good.

Before Kubacki’s jump, the direction of the wind changed. But this one stayed in the corridor. Where did the decision to suspend the Pole come from?

The light at the top of the hill, which shows the jumpers when they can start, is yellow for 60 seconds this winter. The FIS tests this system at the request of competitors. Typically, this time is reduced to 45 seconds. Kubacki had to wait 40 seconds for permission to start his attempt. At the beginning, after the great jump of Anze Laniska on 142 meters, the laser “to beat” line showed that Kubacki would need a distance of about 143-143.5 meters with 56 points for style to beat the Slovene. This value was shown in the TV graphics for more than 15 seconds. Importantly, the wind was not shown as strong, marked with a red wavy line, and was clearly within the corridor designated by the jury. This was the case throughout the waiting period for Kubacki’s jump.

Then suddenly the gusts got a little stronger and even changed direction. The average measurement indicated that it was windy, so the Pole would need as much as 144-144.5 meters to lead. The situation was short-lived, however, for five seconds, and the shot towards the coaching tower showed Thomas Thurnbichler’s flag waving strongly due to a strong tailwind. And after another ten Kubacki was finally released – with the wind at the back of the hill and the required distance of 142-143 meters.

He gained 140 meters and, with lower scores than Lanisko, lost to him by 3.3 points, which is a value corresponding to slightly more than 1.5 meters. However, the question remains: why was he kept on the beam for so long, since the wind was in the corridor, did not threaten the competitor’s health, and the Pole was finally released at the first attempt to make his jump anyway?

A member of the jury explains: “I asked Borek to wait.” And the alarm is Stoch’s jump

– The wind was in the corridor, but I asked Borek (Sedlak, assistant director of the World Cup, who lights the lights for the jumpers – ed.) to wait. We saw that in a moment there would be changes in the strength of the wind and its direction. We wanted to see, for these extra few seconds, where the trend of these changes is actually heading. Ultimately, we decided to let Dawid go, but the conditions were fair, very similar to those of Anze – explains the technical delegate of the competition in Engelberg, Slovenian Saso Komovec, to Sport.pl. He was therefore responsible for how exactly the end of the competition went.

– In the graphics it could look like a downwind, but actually it was more of a silence on the hill. It got a bit unusual for Engelberg, because here the wind from the back reigns, blowing in the back of the competitor. We were already at the limit with the corridor. The difference of 0.5 meters per second is too big here to make an irresponsible decision. Kamil Stoch’s jump was an alarm for us, because then the wind died down and we had to watch over it with the last competitors – evaluates Komovec. It seems that after the end of the competition in this way, taking into account that Kubacki could have made an even better jump, there will be some distaste.

When asked about the conditions for Sunday, the Slovenian technical delegate says that these should not be a problem. The weather will be similar to Saturday and the wind will be blowing from the back of the hill again. The beginning of the competition was planned much earlier than on the previous day, because not at 16:00, but at 12:30. This is due to an attempt to match the competition schedule to the day of the World Cup final, as well as to adapt it to other winter disciplines – such as cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and nordic combined, which are also controlled by the FIS. Live reports from the competition in Engelberg on Sport.pl and in the Sport.pl LIVE application.