A couple of weeks ago we blogged about the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships held in Liberec, Czech Republic. In the final medal count, Norway came out on top with 5 gold medals, 4 silver and 2 bronze. The US followed Norway in the medal count (4 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze) with Finland coming in 3rd (3 gold and 5 silver). Congratulations to all the athletes.
In the same post we also discussed how Norwegian athletes are leading the charge to get women’s ski jumping recognized as an official sport in international competitions. Yesterday the Norwegian press was in an uproar over a last-minute decision to cancel the trial run in a competition at Vikersundsbakken due to the continuing controversy about the place of women in the sport. Trials were supposed to start yesterday, with a group of male and female athletes competing for places in this year’s FIS World Cup in Ski Flying (a more extreme version of ski jumping). Instead the run was abruptly canceled, although there are differing accounts as to why. From the different reports it seems that there was dissent among the competition’s judges as to how the event had been organized, or possibly whether or not women should participate at all.
In any case it now appears that all the athletes, including the women, will jump today. You can watch for results and more info right here.