World Cup start as early as never before
Oct 22, 2022·Ski Jumping
World Cup opener on November 4 and 5 in Wisla (POL), that's just 5 weeks after the Grand Prix final (Klingenthal/GER), the ski jumpers have never started their World Cup winter so early.
FIS Ski Jumping Race Director Sandro Pertile explains why this winter the Ski Jumping World Cup already starts at the beginning of November.
"The real trigger was the overlap of the FIFA World Cup with the winter sports events. Between November 20 and December 18, which is the duration of the World Cup, the biggest interest will probably be on the World Cup, although of course that depends in each case on which teams are playing and how the teams are performing," explains Pertile.
"Especially the first two weekends of the World Cup, where five World Cup matches will be played every day. The kick-off times of these 5 matches are at 11:00 / 13:00 / 15:00 / 17:00 and19:00 CET, so spread throughout the day.
Ski jumping competitions traditionally start at 16:00 or 16:30. Most national TV stations have an agreement with FIFA, which implies that they will broadcast all matches of the World Cup. So there is practically no TV time left for the ski jumping competitions on these weekends.
Against this background, we have considered that this schedule is an excellent opportunity for ski jumping to present itself as a year-round sport, thanks to the plastic ski jumps, and in addition, it is extremely sustainable.
All-year-round sport, because in ski jumping competitions can really be held at any time of the year. In spring and summer with ceramic inrun tracks and plastic mats at the landing/exit, in autumn with ice tracks and plastic mats and then in winter of course with ice track and snow on the landing slope.
Different surfaces but the same sport, you can compare it a bit with tennis on different types of courts.
Sustainable, because the production of snow can be completely avoided. Nowadays snow can be produced at +15°, but that requires a lot of energy, we can do without that completely.
So in two weeks we will start the Ski Jumping World Cup in Wisla.
And we will see women and men ski jumping competitions in Wisla, it will be the first ever women ski jumping World Cups in Poland.
So the weekend will not only offer great sport but also be a great step towards sustainability and equity gender and thus towards the future," Pertile concluded.
