It rained quite heavily in Wisła overnight and all morning. During the trial series and Saturday's competition of the Summer Grand Prix series, the rainfall is expected to be the heaviest in the last hours. At the same time, it will not pose such a big threat to the competition that it would be necessary to think about canceling it. Although few people thought it possible the day before, it seems that despite the difficult situation in other mountain regions in Poland or the Czech Republic, the situation in the Beskids will be sufficient to hold the third competition of the highest rank cycle in jumping this summer.
Competition in Wisła as planned despite heavy rain? Pertile: We are ready
Although looking at the weather, we would rather say: this autumn. It has been raining non-stop in Wisła for two days – on Thursday there was only a light drizzle, which the next day became a steady, although still small, precipitation. On Saturday it is still different: you could say it is already pouring. And at 3:00 p.m., when the test series is to start on the Adam Małysz ski jump, the situation will be the worst. Then a short wave of the most intense rain is to pass, which will however pass about 60-90 minutes later. Then the weather window will open – there will be no more water pouring from the sky, only a “drip”.
And that's when the organizers of the Summer Grand Prix weekend in Wisła are counting on a successful attempt to start and play Saturday's competition. – For now, we are ready, we can jump. We want to start everything according to plan – announces the director of the Ski Jumping World Cup, Sandro Pertile, in an interview with Sport.pl. The Italian is optimistic, although for the past few days few have imagined that there would be anything on Saturday at all, why go to the ski jump.
Covered counter slope, weak cast – all LGP problems in Wisła. “It's very unfortunate”
Wisła has had a lot of bad luck this year when it comes to organizing summer competitions. They were initially scheduled for mid-August, but had to be canceled due to a grass slide on the counter slope. The situation could not be controlled before the competition began, so it was easier to move everything to September. Now the organizers are paying even more attention to the counter slope – after Friday's prologue, the grassy part of the ski jump run was covered with blue sheets to protect it from excess water.
He found out how slippery it is there in rainy conditions. David Kubackiwho, after problems in flight in his last Friday jump, did not stop before the advertising board and hit it with force. – Maybe not on crazy papers, but I overdid it first in the air and then I hit the board. Today, the rain and the amount of water on the hill do not bother us that much – claims the jumper. – We are jumping, and the suit is almost dry. We try to hide from this rain as much as possible, but in this form it does not harm us. We will see what the weather will show us on Saturday. We have jumped in heavy rain many times, but we know that everything has its limits. If this rain is too heavy, even the inrun tracks will not be able to drain such an amount of water – notes Kubacki.
There were few jumpers on the facility fans – the most persistent ones, who were not afraid of bad weather, came. On Saturday, the conditions will not encourage fans to reach Wisła either, but there will probably be more of them than the day before. Unfortunately, the setting and line-up of the competition are not convincing either. It is sad to admit it, but although it is titled as part of the Summer Grand Prix, the start list is more like a well-staffed Continental Cup or FIS Cup. All because the transfer of the competition from August created a collision with the Summer Continental Cup competition in Trondheim. For many teams, it is a warm-up before the world championships organized there this year, they went there for competitions, but also a training camp, so that they could have as much training on the ski jumps there as possible. The Poles were there shortly before the competition in Wisła, but now the entire German team has gone there, as well as some of the best competitors from Austria and Slovenia.
In Poland, apart from coach Thomas Thurnbichler's squad, the strongest line-up was sent here by the Norwegians and Italians. However, there are no names that, apart from the Poles, could make the summer competition much more interesting. When joking that in terms of line-up, the competition in Trondheim could easily take over the name of those in the Summer Grand Prix, Sandro Pertile only says sadly: “It's very unfortunate”.
Thurnbichler referred to a Polish classic. He quoted Wojciech Pawłowski
On Saturday, the International Ski Federation (FIS) is also likely to repeal one of its new rules. As part of the introduction of the suit limit, which it is testing this summer, it is allowed to use four suits during the entire Summer Grand Prix, two suits during one weekend and only one suit during the competition. This last aspect would make life difficult for competitors during rainy competitions. After all, the suit gets soaked in the rain and you would have to be very careful to compete in one during the entire day on the hill.
There is a good chance that on Saturday in Wisła it will be possible to use two suits during one competition. – It was like that in Courchevel. It was raining heavily then and the jury agreed to allow the change of suits between series. We expect the same here – he reveals Thomas Thurnbichler. – Even if the jury doesn't do it, everyone will be in the same situation – adds Dawid Kubacki.
– And what about the weather on Saturday? What was that Polish saying? I think it was “We will say what time will tell”? – laughed Thurnbichler, referring to the already iconic Goalkeeper Wojciech Pawłowski's interview for Udinese club televisionwhen the footballer arrived there in 2012. Well, I guess you could say that the Austrian is becoming more and more Polish, since he already knows such classics. I hope that the rain will let up a bit for the ski jumpers on Saturday, with which many people also identify Poland, and above all the Beskids and Wisła.