With plan A into the summer

For the ski jumpers, under the leadership of the new FIS Race Director Sandro Pertile, the planning and preparations for the 2020 Grand Prix, as well as the Continental and FIS Cup summer competitions, are in full swing.

Despite the current restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the responsible persons assume that the competition series can be carried out as currently planned. Accordingly, the 2020 Grand Prix will start on 22 and 23 August in Wisla (POL). (Competition calendars summer)

However, there is still a question mark over the first date of the summer, as it is not yet certain whether events with spectators will be allowed in Poland in August. The Polish Ski Federation wants to wait for the decision of the Polish government and then change to a date in September if necessary.

"There are still many unknowns at the moment, but we are optimistic about the whole thing and we know that we have to be flexible in view of the current situation," explains Sandro Pertile. "We are also working on a plan B and C, but we are not talking about that now, because it is getting better every day and in more and more countries the restrictions are becoming less. So it is quite realistic that the competitions will take place as planned now".

As one of the first steps, guidelines for summer 2020 were presented today at the (digital) meeting of the FIS Ski Jumping Committee (Covid-19: Guidelines for the summer). According to this document, the organizers have a longer period of time to cancel a planned event, namely at least 30 days before the team captains' meeting.

This gives the organizers more time to react to possible legal changes in case of need. The teams should therefore only make their travel plans after this date.

But also for the winter season, several working groups are already busy playing through different scenarios: For example, they are considering the possible consequences of possible travel restrictions from/to/in individual countries, which could lead to a reduction of the starting field in winter. "For example, we're thinking about reducing the minimum number of teams for a World Cup from 8 to 6 so as not to lose a team competition because of the existing rule," explains Pertile. Currently, according to the FIS rule, at least eight teams must be at the start that the competition counts for the Nations Cup.