Paris (AFP)
A big premiere is scheduled for March 3, 2021: women will set off on the large ski jump in Oberstdorf (Germany) to try and become world champion in ski jumping.
This women's jumping competition on a large hill will be a first as part of the Nordic Skiing World Championships (23 February-7 March 2021), the International Ski Federation (FIS) explains on its official website on Wednesday.
The proposal of the Norwegian Federation had been unanimously accepted by the FIS Council in February 2020. It could not be validated by the FIS Congress scheduled for last May but postponed to October because of the pandemic. of Covid-19, therefore the Council's decision remains valid.
According to FIS President Gian Franco Kasper, "Women's events on large hill have existed for several seasons in the World Cup. The first one took place in Oberstdorf, which organized four, with great success. We could not wait for the next FIS Congress to validate the Worlds program ".
Florian Stern, the boss of these future Nordic Skiing Worlds in Oberstdorf, said he was "very happy" with this decision and considers it "a great honor" that the first world champion in ski jumping on a large hill is crowned at Oberstdorf.
"It will be an unforgettable championship", reacted the German jumper Katharina Althaus, recalling that the "incredible" atmosphere which reigns around the big jump of Oberstdorf. She considers that "it is the right moment to have a world champion because the level of the World Cup is now quite high".
After the addition in 2019 to the Seefeld Worlds of a women's team event, there will now be a perfect balance between men and women in this discipline, with four events for each gender: small hill, large hill, team (men and women) and mixed.
By adding the women entered in the Nordic combined (cross-country skiing and jumping), there will therefore be 12 gold medals to be collected for the Nordic ski specialists in Oberstdorf in March 2021.
Next winter will mark the launch of the first Nordic Combined World Cup for women, culminating in an individual event (on a small hill) on the Oberstdorf Worlds program. Perfect parity, the ultimate goal of those responsible for Nordic skiing, is therefore not far off.
© 2020 AFP