The FIS will break its own rules. There is a decision on the competition for M¦ in flights

Already on Thursday, March 10, the ski flying world championships will start in. This is the second great jumping event this season after the Beijing Olympics. The competitors were to fight for the medals individually in four series spread over two days, as well as in the team competition. This second competition, however, was put into great doubt.

Team competition at the ski flying World Championships in Vikersund at risk?

According to the regulations, eight teams must appear at the start in order to compete and distribute medals in the team competition championship. And here in Vikersund the problems begin: only seven national teams have signed up for the World Cup ski flying.

In such a situation, if the rules of the international federation are complied with, the team competition in Norway should be canceled. Interestingly, changes have already appeared on the FIS website that could indicate that such a decision has just been made. The team competition disappeared from the calendar and a day off between two days of individual competition appeared on the website.

Norwegians convinced that the teams will fight for medals. “Heard nothing”

We asked the secretary general of the championship, Per Bergerud, about the matter. – I have not heard anything about the official decision that the competition would be canceled. Indeed, we have applications from seven countries, so under the FIS regulations, not enough for one. But it is up to the federation whether or not the competition is played. In our direction, the message from FIS has not changed: the competition is to be played as planned – said the former jumper, and now an activist.

– The decision on the competition has to be confirmed during the technical briefing. It is then that we will know 100% whether seven teams will declare that they will put four players into the competition. We have planned our briefing on Thursday morning, ‘added Bergerud.

FIS will break its own rules? Pertile confirms that the competition will take place and explains how possible

– The competition will take place, there is strange and unconfirmed information on the website that should not be there. We have to check it – confirmed Sport.pl the director of men, Sandro Pertile. – This is official information and if nothing bad happens, nothing should change in this case – said the Italian.

When asked about the official FIS rules, he replied that a team competition with seven teams would not break them. – For the World Ski Championships, there is no limit to the teams that must take part in the competition. The pandemic regulations lowered the overall limit during the competition to six teams. And you have to remember that we do not have Russians excluded from the competition at the moment – he explained. ‘

However, the director of the World Cup is not right. The official rules (the International Competition Rules document, which you can read here) clearly state that eight teams are required to be awarded medals in a World Cup competition. Pertile refers to the rules introduced due to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the case of the exceptional situation related to the exclusion of Russians. However, the pandemic regulatory errata only applies to the World Cup event. There is therefore no record anywhere to indicate that the team competition in Vikersund will be held according to the FIS rules. Thus, the federation is breaking its own regulations.

Interestingly, as Sandro Pertile added, the situation is to be resolved in the same way for the seven entries for the World Cup final in Planica, where a team competition is also scheduled. Although there, of course, pandemic regulations already apply, according to which the minimum required to qualify for the Nations Cup is six teams.

The team competition for the World Flying Championships in Vikersund is scheduled for 16:30 on Sunday, March 13. There will be a trial run an hour earlier. On Friday and Saturday, players will compete in four series of the individual competition. Live reports on Sport.pl and in the Sport.pl LIVE mobile application.