Nordic Ski World Cup: Suit chaos at the World Cup: How things go in ski jumping

Ski jumping racing guide Sandro Pertile was clearly to look at the anger. The suit chaos at the World Cup hit the 56-year-old powerfully. “I’m shocked,” said Pertile in Trondheim. Instead of looking forward to the ski jumping show by the Slovenian world champion Domen Prevc and his competitors, he has to moderate the largest scandal in his sport for years.

The Norwegians Marius Lindvik, Johann André Forfang and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal were disqualified in the World Cup single from the Großchanze because of non-controller suits. This was preceded by a protest from Austria, Poland and Slovenia. Several videos should be seen how the Norwegians’ suits were deliberately manipulated.

Lindvik was actually second on Saturday. Due to his disqualification, the Austrian Jan Hörl brought silver instead of bronze. Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan slipped in third place. Lindvik had shaped the title fights in his home country. In singles from the normal hill last Sunday, he won gold.

What can be seen on the videos?

Among other things, the videos show how sewn on a jumping suit. They were obviously undetected by those involved and were recorded in a curtain by a gap. The manipulation is difficult to recognize for the layperson, the content of the video looks inconspicuous. For the experts, however, the pictures are very suspect, explained Austria’s coach Andreas Widhölzl.

Can additional World Cup results be subsequently changed?

That is unlikely. Pertile said he was not based on further disqualifications. “In principle not. We have a system – when control is finished, it is ready,” said Pertile after the competition in the interview zone. The Italian also explained that the pictures that are supposed to show manipulation were from the night from Friday to Saturday.

Do participants in the manipulation have to fear further personal punishments?

As for possible locks, pertile was held back. It was too early for an answer. “We have to clarify the situation in peace. This is an issue for the entire ski jumping family, not just for a team.”

What are the opportunities for improvement in the controls?

The basic control system and the work of material controller Christian Kathol initially questioned athletes nor trainers. “Christian does his best,” said Austria coach Widhölzl. “He can’t see everything.” The former world -class jumper also has a proposal for improvement. “I think that more people are sure to be a financial question,” he said. The Trondheim scandal can also help the sport with further improvements: “I think it’s good because something happens now.”

When was there recently there was great excitement about the material?

2022 at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. At that time, five top jumpers were disqualified during the mixed because of their suit, including Katharina Schmid (then Althaus). Norway, Japan, Austria and the German team cost all medal opportunities. “That was Kasperletheater today,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher after the chaos of Beijing.

But at that time it was not about the accusation of manipulation, but about the suddenly stricter controls. “The four largest nations are not all stupid and want to manipulate. So you break things a bit,” said sports director Horst Hüttel.

The excitement quickly lay down after the Olympics, but the FIS was subsequently consequences. The then responsible controller Mika Jukkara from Finland was replaced by the Austrian Catholic. This time, racing director perile and controller Kathol will probably have to solve more profound problems eleven months before the next winter games in Italy.