“It’s too dangerous.” The Poles are giving up, the Germans are thundering, and the Austrians are afraid

The equipment of the jumpers, especially the one used by the Slovenian team, is one of the most interesting and most discussed topics behind the scenes, which ended two days ago in the 1970s. It is mainly about Slatnar’s “flat skis”, which could have caused two serious falls during the event.

Two serious falls at the 4-Hills-Tournament. And two on the same revolutionary skis

Recall: some Slovenian jumpers, as well as Japanese Yukiya Sato, or Sara Takanashi among women use. These are skis with flat, non-curved tips. The curve has moved a little lower, 35 centimeters behind the end of the ski (it is best seen in flight). Moreover, this curve is greater than in the case of e.g. Fischer skis or Augment on the tips. It is designed to be closer to the jumper’s bindings. This solution promotes jumpers lying down on their skis in flight and trying to fly very flat, with practically no body movement in the air. Cost? 1,200 euros. But the profit is up to several meters. It was said that they could become a real technological revolution in jumping.

Curve in Slatnar’s ‘flat ski’ by Lovro Kos during qualifying in Innsbruck visible approx. 35 cm at the tip of the ski (left) and ‘flat skis’ in all its glory (right) Screen Eurosport Player

However, this equipment can be dangerous. . She made the Slovene roll forward over his shoulder and fell menacingly. He was okay, but he could be seriously injured.

A few days later, in Bischofshofen, Lovro Kos fell, whose skis had landed and were restrained by fresh snow on the landing hill of the Paul Ausserleitner facility. Here, Slatnara’s skis did not help either. And there are more and more voices saying clearly: they must be banned.

The blackbird did not fall through the “flat skis”, but the topic of safety came back. The risk is too great?

– It’s not my skis, but the sudden landing and too aggressive approach of Cene Prevc caused him to fall – Peter Slatnar told us after the competition in Oberstdorf. But he did point out that he would look at how the innovations he introduced to “flat skis” could be affected by a worse landing hill, or by soft snow caused by fresh rainfall. After the fall of Lovro Kos, in the first round of the competition in Bischofshofen, there were further suspicions about a problem with the skis. Even the director of the World Cup, Sandro Pertile, had doubts. He assured that he would conduct another in-depth analysis of the case.

“Something stopped my ski and I flew forward,” Kos explained to us in mixed zone. He noted that he was slightly leaning forward, but when we showed him his fall again, he also noticed the ski heavily covered in snow. This could have been the first impression, because later to the equipment controller in the World Cup, Mika Jukkar, he told that it was mainly his error and the weight of the body shifted too much forward.

If you collected the opinions of experts, coaches and players who we asked about the fall of the Scythe, it would turn out that they think that 70% of it is a matter of too aggressive landing of the jumper and the conditions – falling snow sticking to the landing area. But there remains a 30 percent margin where the skis may have helped. But Peter Slatnar’s equipment in such cases will only make it difficult for the player to defend himself against a fall. Some explain that it is the risk and the price of gaining valuable meters in the air. Only that this price is starting to be not a question of broken jumps and worse results on the hill, but the safety of the jumpers.

Flat skis were banned once before. They also caused falls. Dangerous “goose beak”

– I had a deja vu – said Sport.pl after the fall of Cene Prevca, an experienced coach and former jumper, Richard Schallert, who is currently in charge of the club. The Austrian recalls that in 1985 the Norwegian Roger Ruud fell in the same way at the Bergisel in Innsbruck in the third competition of the 33rd 4-Hills-Tournament. Unfortunately, the record of his jump was not preserved, but in the results of the competition the competitor was classified only in 85th place with notes for style from 12.5 to only 9 points, which actually indicates a fall.

Roger Ruud skiing with goosebills in 1985 Photo sent by Werner Schuster

– A little history lesson, because what Peter Slatnar is trying to do has already appeared in ski jumping some time ago – former coach of German jumpers, Werner Schuster, pointed out in an interview with Sport.pl. – This solution was too dangerous and was banned. Ruud’s fall was just an example of how that ski could perform in soft snow. We called it the “goose beak” solution. The tip of the ski was, as it is now, flat. Then the ski went up and did a kind of slalom towards the rest of the bottom. Air was supposed to collect there, but when the ski hit the landing hill in worse conditions, or when the conditions were poorly prepared, it simply stuck into the snow. How flexible it was meant that the tips could not stay above the landing, as is usually the case with regular skis – described the coach. – I remember those skis too, they were weird. There is something in it, this ski can help in the air. That’s for sure. But isn’t she too dangerous to land? – this is what Adam Małysz asked about Peter Slatnar’s skis.

At that time, the skis were prepared by the Elan company, and later probably also by Fischer. Although they gave a lot to the competitors who were in shape and could fly in the air collected by the equipment, they were not able to land safely. And this, of course, turned out to be more important than what could be gained from the risky use of this solution.

The German manufacturer does not want to create “flat skis”. Austrians were afraid of them, Poles gave up tests

Will it be so now? Even the best ski jumpers in the world have doubts about the use of these skis. Many of them were afraid to try them. The Polish staff saw Slatnar’s equipment, could have had it for testing, but eventually gave it up. – There must be something to it. The manufacturer and the FIS have to come to an agreement on these skis. It cannot be that someone uses clearly dangerous equipment – said the coach of Polish jumpers, Michal Doleżal. As we found out, the “flat skis” was almost immediately rejected by the person dealing with the development of the equipment in the Austrian team. “It’s not for us, the risk would be too great,” we hear.

However, Peter Slatnar suggested that this was a matter that he was not alone in overseeing in recent months. Fluege.de was to design their pairs of flat-tipped skis according to him. – No, nothing like that happened. We were not interested in this topic at all – Georg Reichart, managing the German ski manufacturer, pointed out in an interview with Sport.pl. – It’s a dangerous solution! You can gain a lot in flight, but if this ski comes into contact with the ground, it can generate very difficult situations. We have no plans to produce these skis – he added.

The skis meet the FIS requirements. But there are more and more threats

The FIS approved the Slatnara ski design a long time ago. After Cene Prevca fell, they were checked again and again no abnormalities were found. And although people from the federation’s environment also consider the Slovenian solution to be “strange”, “complicated” and “creating a threat in some situations”, with the current hardware regulations, it may not even be possible to ban them.

Why? – The recipe is. “The tip can be individually modified for the competitor’s purpose as long as it remains symmetrical to the center of the ski and the distance to the ground is a minimum of three centimeters.” There may be more, but there cannot be less – quotes the equipment controller at the Women’s World Cup, Agnieszka Baczkowska. And the extremely flat version of the Slatnara skis has a tip curved by four centimeters, so it complies with the regulations.

“However, this is far too vague a provision,” said Werner Schuster. “I know it is fulfilled, but the FIS has to think about it,” added the coach. Agnieszka Baczkowska watched the skis prepared by Slatnar for Sara Takanashi, who has been jumping in them for a long time. He describes that at certain times they are so flexible that they behave like “ski plasticine” and bend in very strange ways. And the threat for them does not have to be only the issue of landing on soft snow – also, for example, a poorly prepared run-up with bumps. An accident during the raid on the threshold would be extremely dangerous. Like losing balance in flight when a ski like this is stacked too vertical or too flat and it catches too much air. Jan Szturc, the first coach of Adam Ma³ysz and Piotr ¯y³a, warned against such cases. – Jumpers could do somersaults in the air. Nobody wants that – he pointed out.

Forbidden bindings. The skis will be next? “That should have been noticed sooner”

For now, however, the FIS has focused more on the bindings created by Slatnar. These Slovenian jumpers have been using them for a year now, but only now have they started to bring more and more interesting results – last season’s great results by Bor Pavlovcic, and now by Anze Laniska or Lovro Kosa.

– The front of the binding is more open and does not conform to the guidelines. We got inquiries about it at the beginning of the season, but the decision to withdraw this solution and ban its use appeared only in the middle of the 4-Hills-Tournament. Competitors who use it must change them after the competition in Bischofshofen. It is also our step, such an agreement – revealed Mika Jukkara. Peter Slatnar has to change some elements in the bindings and still has to consult the FIS. Interestingly, he claims that the bindings he has prepared are safer than those used so far for most of the stake, because they release faster.

Who knows, maybe this is the fate of “flat skis” soon. The pressure on FIS from people who are afraid of the consequences of using this solution will certainly not diminish. – Hardware development is okay, but when you can predict what it will bring. And these skis are not that easy to read. We do not fully know how they behave in different situations, which was mainly confirmed by the fall of the Cene Prevca. Maybe sometimes instead of ten steps forward, one has to take one backward? – Werner Schuster wondered in an interview with us. – Just look at the beams in competitions. We often go down to numbers 1, 2 or 3. Why? Because the equipment often does not allow you to start much higher and the jury has the right to be afraid that it will not have time to react appropriately – he added.

– I am not worried about admitting these skis to the World Cup. This is not a problem, because such falls are less frequent there. It’s disturbing, but the best players should handle it. But what if they appear at local competitions or in young, inexperienced players? This is a real threat and you need to pay attention to it. Skis will become generally available and, if they become more popular, they will be used everywhere. Too dangerous in my opinion. It should have been noticed before, and now the sooner you can ban it, the better, concluded Schuster.