The leader at half time missed the start: the starting judge caused an Adelboden scandal

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After the Adelboden slalom, a violent aftershock shook the ski world. The supplier of halftime leader Alexander Steen Olsen (no. 22) now claims that the Norwegian was also robbed of the victory by a misstep by the starting judge.

What really happened in the final stages at Chuenisbärgli on Sunday? After the Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath (23), second at halftime and therefore the penultimate starter in the second run, narrowly missed the best time of the Austrian Manuel Feller (31), the race was stopped. At the finish, most spectators assume that Steen Olsen is stopped at the start because a tilting pole needs to be anchored.

But Jean-Francois Jond (55) from Steen Olson’s ski supplier Rossignol spread a much more explosive version after the first downhill training in Wengen: “The starting jury did not want to let Alexander ski anymore because he was of the opinion that the race is already over.” I’m sorry, what? “Because the American Benjamin Ritchie and the Spaniard Joaquim Salarich simultaneously took 30th place in the first round, not the usual 30, but 31 athletes qualified for the final round. And apparently the starting judge was no longer there informed when Steen Olsen started 31st,” says the Rossignol man.

FIS race director will replace the starting jury

It takes a good minute before the misunderstanding is cleared up and the 2022 junior world champion is allowed to start after the radio intervention from FIS race director Markus Waldner. But Steen Olsen scored just six goals before being sent off for an inside skiing error. At Rossignol, the departure of the 22-year-old top talent is attributed to the confusion at the start. Jond is convinced that Steen Olsen was distracted by the conversation with the official FIS starting judge. What particularly irritates the Frenchman: “If one of our soldiers uses a binding plate that is 0.1 millimeters too high, the athlete will be disqualified by the FIS. But if the FIS starting referee makes a big mistake, as was the case with Steen Olsen, nothing happens. And that simply cannot be the case.”

FIS General Waldner confirmed to Blick that “there was in fact this confusion at the start of the Chuenisbärgli Slalom.” The South Tyrolean also holds the official timekeeping staff responsible for this: “We received a start list from Longines before the second round, in which there were only 30 racers on one side. Leader Steen Olsen’s name appeared on a separate sheet of paper. Unfortunately, the starting judge only had the first page of this list in his hand.

Déjà vu by Steen Olsen

Waldner notes that there will be personnel consequences: “I should be able to expect a trained starting jury member to know which driver is in the lead after the first run, even without a starting list. The man who performed confidently at the start of Chuenisbärgli last year was this year’s finish judge. Next year he will be a starting jury member again.” This is not the first time this winter that Steen Olsen has had his preparations for the start hampered. In November, the Viking, which competed in the slalom at Palisades Tahoe last winter, was held up for almost 15 minutes at the start because “last generation” climate activists caused a race stoppage in the finish area.

Source : Blick