The jumps crossed another borderline of absurdity. FIS will land flat just like Zajc

This moment will divide the jumping community. On the one hand, Zajc made the longest jump on a large hill in history. It is possible that it is bigger, more important than the world record, that it beat Stefan Kraft. The boundary of 160 meters, sky-high, completely inaccessible under normal conditions, has been broken. And she may have been crushed, because the jumper was still high in the air when he passed the size of the Muehlenkopfschanze. Had it not been for the shortening of this attempt, it would have ended up landing completely flat, beyond 170 meters.

But the danger that this would end with a serious injury for the Slovene was huge. Fortunately, the information provided to Sport.pl by the spokesman for the Slovenian team, Tomi Trbovc, is positive. – For now, Timi is ok. We’ll see tomorrow – he announced, confirming that the jumper is still waiting for further checks and examinations of the knee, for which he caught himself after a continuous jump. The flight and the way Zajc’s skis behaved indicated that the gusts of wind had far too much influence on how he flew away. I don’t think any jumpy romanticism will defend it.

Money and the pursuit of the competition program won with the health of the jumpers. And common sense

The averaged wind measurement during the Slovene’s jump showed 2.15 meters per second under the skis. However, this is not a complete picture – the gusts must have reached well over five meters per second, and probably on almost the entire landing, since Zajc caught the lift already in the first phase of the flight. Therefore, the converters do not show the whole absurdity of the fact that the vice-champion of the world in flying could make his amazing jump.

It’s not the fault of assistant director of the World Cup Borek Sedlak who released the jumpers – he had no right to predict that since the conditions suddenly improved, they would be extreme in a few seconds. It’s the fault of dragging a contest that shouldn’t have happened. The jury agreed to set the wind corridor at a maximum value of 4.5 meters per second on three measurements around the take-off. It is a cosmic, unnecessary and inappropriate value. Of course, in a different corridor, Friday’s competition would probably not have taken place. And very well, because it shouldn’t. It is enough to add that usually – in calm conditions – the corridor is in the range of one and a half meters per second under the skis, and half a meter per second at the back of the hill.

Officials of the International Ski Federation (FIS) clearly showed that they wanted to hold a mixed competition at all costs, which they finally finished after the first round. Each such competition, continued and uninterrupted by the jury, is asking for a jump like Zajca’s. . And women’s landing technique is even more difficult to master than men’s. After all, no one knows how the jumper’s body will react to a clumsy landing after 170 meters and it is possible that in the case of Zajc the case would be more serious than just a possible knee injury. That even his life would be in danger. It’s a good thing that didn’t happen, but on Friday FIS put health and money from German sponsors in Willingen on an equal footing, as well as those for TV rights. And money with health, and above all a healthy approach, won.

No one will show Schlierenzauer’s gesture. That’s why danger in jumping suits everyone

FIS overreacted. This, of course, is not the first time he has played with the health and safety of players. And not the last.

Wisła, the beginning of the 2022/23 season and a long conversation with the director of the World Cup, Sandro Pertile.
– You know the Schlierenzauer gesture? I ask the Italian.
“No, tell me what it is,” he replies, quite seriously. This is a bit surprising, because the then 40-year-old activist in that season was a technical delegate at the World Cup competition in Vancouver, when the Austrian stopped jumping as much as 149 meters. Maybe the one he gave back a few weeks later Pertile doesn’t remember anymore?

So I tell him what happened. In the team competition in March 2009 on the mammoth in Vikersund, Schlierenzauer reached as much as 224 meters, jumping its size by as much as 17 meters. And after he pulled himself together, he immediately turned towards the hill and showed the jury to knock their heads, since they let him go in extremely favorable conditions from such a high beam. His jump and this gesture changed jumping forever – a discussion began, which led to the introduction of converters into the discipline that allowed to change the beam without having to restart the whole series of competitions, as well as the extension of the hill in Vikersund, where the world record was broken several times.

Now, however, no one will show the jury the Schlierenzauer gesture. Because as long as the health of the competitor does not suffer, it is against the interests of the majority of people involved in the current World Cup in jumping. The gameplay is all about hardware development. Currently, the development of suits, skis, bindings and boots is so great that the ski jumps are running out of beams from which competitors could land as far as their equipment allows.

This is a very dangerous direction, which, however, no one intends to counteract. If you can fly far, no one has suffered from it so far, and everyone benefits, why take away your own advantages? And that’s how it goes, probably until the next serious injuries, ending seasons, and maybe even careers.

The FIS just flies to 161.5 meters by itself. And it’s about to land flat, and the jumps will break the next limit of absurdity

However, let there be someone who will draw a lesson from the events of Willingen. Because the FIS is just giving its jump on 161.5 meters. It flies, passes the size of the hill. And he’s about to land flat just like Zajc. And the whole sport will cross the next line of absurdity.

How is it that once “safety must be in the first place” and the conditions for the competitors are expected, and now, when it was necessary to chase the program and the pressure to hold the competition, no red light was turned on for Zajc’s landing? I asked this question to Sandro Pertile, but I don’t expect an answer. I’m asking because I feel an obligation, not a chance for things to change. Unfortunately.