World Cup headline cut out by the wind. Unambiguous comments. “He is helpless”

On Sunday, Dawid Kubacki won the first individual Olympic medal in his career in Beijing. The 31-year-old was on the lowest step of the podium. Before him were the Olympic champion and runner-up Manuel Fettner.

This competition was not fair. Poles benefited from it

However, the course of the competition was rather strange. Initially, the jury decided to start the competition from a high beam. This, when the wind was favorable, meant that some people jumped far from the beginning. After a few long jumps, the judges decided to lower the beams. The trouble arose when suddenly the wind weakened. It can be said that the Polish jumpers were lucky. Both Stefan Hula and Dawid Kubacki in the first round had points deducted for the wind. Only Piotr ¯y³a faced worse conditions.

However, rivals had a problem. Almost all of the top ten in the general classification of P¦ were unlucky. Only Ryoyu Kobayashi coped with the wind in the back very well. Players such as Markus Eisenbichler, Karl Geiger and Marius Lindvik were lost. Far away positions after the first round made it difficult for them to win the medal. He took advantage of the one who was eighth at the halfway point. He made an excellent jump, this time with a slight wind in the back, and won a bronze medal. He was close to the leaders and took the chance of a lifetime.

– We’re ending today without a medal. This is very disappointing, but also natural, given the unfair terms in the first series. We were unlucky like Germany – – We were not lucky, and our jumps were correct, but not quite good. Johansson had the most positive points for the wind, he added.

Such weather was to be expected. Not only jumpers are complaining

Such conditions, however, were to be expected. The wind during the Chinese Games is spinning all the time. – Competitions are played in the air, not in halls, and even if you try to cover the hill from the wind, you will not win against nature. he is helpless at times. If in such weather he wanted to create the same conditions for every jumper, one series would last half a day. I tell you, everyone would have to wait five minutes to let go –

The very infrastructure built by the Chinese does not help either. “Additional elements can cause unnecessary problems. You could see them on Thursday and Friday training sessions” – The point is that the wind that hits the hill from the front bounces off the side walls and creates air turbulence. The Chinese noticed this problem earlier on the example of a similar facility in Oslo, so the side shields on their hill were made of perforated metal. However, they did not solve the problem at all.

However, not only the jumpers have a problem with the wind. All outdoor disciplines fight with him. This affected alpine skiers who were to compete for medals in the downhill ride on Sunday. Unfortunately, due to weather conditions, the struggle had to be moved to another day. Earlier, because on Saturday, some of their training sessions were canceled by the wind.

There are also complaints from cross-country skiers, Norwegian combination riders, snowboarders and biathletes, who often emphasize that the wind influences the perceived temperature, significantly lowering it. – It even reaches -28 degrees – – When there is sun, it’s fun, but if it does, it’s a massacre – added the 21-year-old. – It’s so cold that my heart rate equipment did not hold out. I was supposed to do a strong training, but without it there was no possibility – completed another of the combiners, Szczepan Kupczak.

– We put as many layers as we can, but it’s still like in a freezer. You can see everyone waving their hands, jumping in place. Everyone is freezing here, said the Belarusian biathlete Hanna So³a. – It would be good if the starts were a bit earlier. When the sun goes down, the chill is so strong that it is difficult to bear skiing alone – she described.

The Chinese tried to defeat the wind, but failed

Biathletes adapt to winter conditions as much as they can. The shooting tests are carried out, for example, in a cooling chamber. They see then how different types of ammunition behave at a given temperature. However, it is also important how the players themselves behave in the cold and in the wind. In China, they feel great discomfort. “It is like a knife piercing the skin” – Yahoo journalists write about the words of sportsmen telling about the weather. “It sucks,” Jamie Anderson, a medal favorite in several snowboard competitions, said bluntly.

From the Olympic Village you can hear that you can try to cope with the cold, but it is difficult to be ready for a sudden gust of wind, up to 32 km / h. Especially when someone is about to be in the air – like snowboarders.

– It is the worst when it blows from different sides, then it is difficult to choose the right speed before a given trick. It can have unpleasant consequences – said the American snowboarder Hailey Langland. “It’s awkward to do tricks in the wind,” added two-time Olympic champion Jamie Anderson.

Journalists asked her if the Great Wall built along the track, carved in ice, fulfilled its function. – I like. I think it helps a little, she said. – But for these conditions the organizers would need a larger wall – she added half-jokingly, half-seriously.

The Chinese now focus on precise weather monitoring. Their devices provide complete data every 10 minutes – both live and forecast. It is already known that the biggest problems with the wind will be on February 7, 13 and 18. The jumpers look especially anxiously at that second date. Then the second individual competition on the large hill will take place.