The Polish jumping tournament has been talked about for years. In 2011, the Lotos Poland Tour was organized as part of the Summer Grand Prix and the currently announced competition would be very similar to this series.
It would be the biggest event in the history of the World Cup in Poland. The Polish Tour is coming
These are six World Cup competitions held over ten days – according to the FIS tentative calendar from January 12 to 21. First – on January 12-14 at the Adam Ma³ysz ski jump in Wisła-Malinka, then on January 16 and 17 at the Skalite complex in Szczyrk, and finally from January 19 to 21 at Wielka Krokiew in Zakopane.
It would not only be the largest event in the history of the World Cup in Poland, but also one of the most important events of the 2023/2024 season, next to the ski flying world championships in Tauplitz and traditional competitions as part of the Four Hills Tournament and Raw Air.
Less and less chances for the FIS Games, more and more for the Polish tournament in the World Cup
What is the condition for the competition to take place in Poland? – The Polish Tour will take place 100% if we don’t have FIS Games in 2024. Otherwise, they would remain to be confirmed – the director of the World Cup, Sandro Pertile, tells Sport.pl.
The FIS Games is a new idea of the world federation, which wants to fill the calendar with a great event in the season without the Nordic World Ski Championships and the Winter Olympic Games. Its program would consist of competitions in all disciplines under the auspices of the FIS – ski jumping and cross-country skiing, nordic combined, alpine skiing, but also snowboarding and free skiing. However, it’s not about playing as many competitions as at the regular world championships. – These can be single competitions, certainly the program could not be very extensive. Otherwise, it would have taken over a month,” FIS general secretary Michael Vion assures us.
So far, there have been discussions about when the first edition will be carried out. FIS strongly pushed to try to organize it next year, although there was and still is very little time to properly secure the event. FIS Games meetings have been held since autumn. The issue of holding the competition was the main topic of discussions among the activists who met at the last alpine skiing competition or the Four Hills Tournament. This is one of the reasons why former World Cup director Walter Hofer was so often seen on the hill, who became one of the main advisers to the current FIS authorities regarding the event.
– The case is still pending. But the chances are getting smaller and smaller – tells us about FIS Games Sandro Pertile. Unofficially, we heard that the federation had three applications available to host the event – including one from Italy and one from China. However, none have been finalized yet and it seems that the first FIS Games will not be held until 2028. Even Lillehammer in Norway is interested in such a date for a new event in the winter sports calendar.
– At 96 percent – this is how PZN assess the chances of the Polish Tour in 2024. The activists are quite sure that in the spring, during the calendar commission, they will receive confirmation of the organization of the tournament and will be able to proceed to final negotiations with the cities, as well as the sponsors of the event.
The second option for the PZN. Competitions only in Wisła and Zakopane
Variant B, if the FIS Games are scheduled for next season, are two weekends of the World Cup in Poland: December 8-10, 2023 in Wisła and January 12-14, 2024 in Zakopane. The possible date that was mentioned in the context of the FIS Games is February 10-18.
Therefore, Szczyrk would be the most affected, as it would miss the chance for the first World Cup competition in the history of the Skalite complex.
Source: Sport
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