Both the men’s and women’s annual ski jumping competitions at Oslo’s iconic Holmenkollen Ski Jump were cancelled Sunday afternoon. Strong winds and melting snow made it impossible to carry out an event that already had been all but killed off by the Corona virus.
“Organizers of Holmenkollen can’t be blamed that the ski jumping was cancelled,” reported state broadcaster NRK Sunday evening. “They worked for hours, trying to get rid of all the water (from melted snow that assembled in the landing area) and even using chainsaws to make drains for it.” The men’s jumping was cancelled first, then the women’s. In the end, strong winds and fog were decisive.
The huge Holmenkollen ski jump arena was already empty after city officials had felt compelled to close it to prevent spread of the Corona virus. Having to cancel the actual competition because of the weather was like salt in the wound for the disappointed hosts.
“Someone proposed that we could have turned it into a water-skiing competition,” joked Norwegian ski jumper Daniel André Tande. The athletes understood that a cancellation was necessary, and they were moving on to the next competition at Lillehammer on Monday.
newsinenglish.no staff
