Kamil Stoch he won the prologue for the TVP Sport Cup in great style before the Summer Grand Prix competition in Wisła. The 33-year-old jumper showed a very good form and in the judged series he flew 133.5 meters and covered 4.3 points Dawid Kubacki, who took second place. The form of these two Polish jumpers is not a coincidence, because both Kubacki and Stoch were great jumpers in training. The first practice session was won by the last TCS winner and Stoch was second. In the next training series, they swapped positions.
Almost everyone is wearing masks
The FIS organized the first competition after more than 160 days of pandemic break. In Wisła, everything seems buttoned up to the last button, and the weekend in Poland is a real test for everyone. It may depend on what the winter World Cup will look like. Hence, one gets the impression that there is quite a lot of anxiety in all of them. On the hill, every technician, journalists and jumpers wear a mask and this is actually followed. Unfortunately, it looks worse for the fans who are on the other side of the landing hill and have no contact with the players, journalists or staff. There, seeing the mask can be a difficult task, which may be worrying not even in the context of the safety of the competition, but simply in the context of the society’s approach to the pandemic.
– So far, there have always been thousands of fans here. It’s a little different now. Everyone knows that gatherings are not advisable, and there is still a very high risk of contamination. We compete under the conditions we have and you have to get used to it, he saidand Dawid Kubacki after Friday’s jumps. Kamil Stoch added that although there are fewer fans, you can hear them well at the top of the hill, which means that the atmosphere of the competition is good. The work of journalists has also changed. There are definitely fewer of them and they talk to players from a greater distance.
Jumps during a pandemic
How do the “covid” rules work in practice? Each jumper is wearing a mask both on the way to the top of the hill and when he takes off his skis. There are also machines for disinfecting hands on the hill. It can be funny that every jumper comes off the landing and has to get a clean mask from the staff. Because he is not jumping with the one he used on the way to the top of the hill. – In general, it does not bother me, although I cannot see through the mask if I have goggles on my neck and it is a bit stressful because I touch them with my hand and check if I have them. And then I touch it ten more times – Aleksander Zniszczol laughs.
Considering that 46 jumpers were jumping and each jumped three times, the jumpers themselves used 138 masks. Throughout the weekend, there will be about 400 masks for the jumpers only. Of course, the pre-jumpers should be added to this. The organizers have prepared a total of three thousand masks! After the qualifying series, each jumper had to give up his plastron, and these will be disinfected before Saturday’s jumps.
Informal FIS convention in Wisła
A few days ago, the FIS published the protocol on proceedings on counteracting covid-19. It shows that every jumper, activist, trainer or journalist will have to undergo a coronavirus test before each competition. It seems that this protocol will need to be changed as many teams simply cannot afford to test regularly. Many important representatives of the FIS came to Wisła, who for the first time in a long time have the opportunity to meet in a larger group. It can be said that there is such an informal FIS congress in Wisła, and in the backstage meetings various problems of the coming months will be discussed. There are many indications that the World Cup we know from the last dozen or so years will change this time. The FIS analyzes the various possibilities and has plans A and B to play the winter competition.
– Certainly winter will not be like in previous years. The epidemic continues and little is changing. We have record cases in Poland. People went crazy when there were few cases in our country, and now there are close to a thousand. You have to be careful. I do take into account that winter may be either without or with a limited number of fans. The show and atmosphere will surely suffer. I just hope that the competitions will not be canceled – says Dawid Kubacki.
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