No Covid-case in the Czech Ski Jumping team

The Ski Jumping team from the Czech Republic, which was quarantined in Ruka on Sunday, can start their journey home to the Czech Republic from Finland today. The quarantine originally planned to last until December 5, has been ended.

In the process of routine Covid testing, one athlete of the Czech team was tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday. The whole team had then quarantine immediately after receiving the test result on Sunday morning. The athlete who was tested positive was Filip Sakala. After further observation and communication, it was now discovered that Sakala had already been infected with the Covid-19 virus during the summer and Ruka's test result last Saturday was probably influenced by this infection from the summer. Sakala had been tested negative repeatedly after his infection in the summer.

After Sakala and all other team members of the team showed no symptoms and all further tests gave negative results, the quarantine for the whole team was ended by the Finnish authorities.
The team from the Czech Republic will start their trip home today and will then compete in the Ski Flying World Championships in Planica.

"This is obviously not a false test result. In this particular case, however, the result is only complete when all additional information, background, and details have been collected and put together. Different limit values in different countries also play a role," explains FIS race director Sandro Pertile. "In case of doubt, positive tested athletes and teams are immediately isolated to ensure the safety of the whole group. Ruka's example shows that our system works with the tests. But of course, we know that the issue will be with us throughout the winter, and we will of course continue to follow all rules and regulations very strictly with all teams“.

The Czech team will prepare for the World Ski Flying Championships in Planica (SLO) after their return.