Mutko clears up ski jump confusion: test event on as planned

Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko on Thursday moved to end confusion over the first key test event at the Sochi 2014 Olympic ski jump facility, saying a competition that had been postponed until March due to construction delays would go ahead this month as originally planned. Last month Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak had said the site would not host its first test events until March, and officials told RIA Novosti that the reason for the postponement was that building work at the site near Krasnaya Polyana had not been completed in time. But Mutko stepped in Thursday to confirm reports that the last round of the men’s Russian Cup will take place on the K-125 jump between February 18 and 19, only a slight shift from the original dates of February 10 to 11. “The 125-meter jump is in the final stages of construction," he said. "The first competition will take place here February 18.” Mutko suggested that not all facilities at the complex, located on the Aibga ridge near the village of Esto-Sadok, had been completed. "As a matter of fact, the most important thing for the jump is the possibility of jumping from it," he said. A test event for the biathlon this week has been closed to the public due to ongoing building work at the spectator facilities. The complex's smaller K-95 jump did not appear to be part of the newly scheduled competition. It had earlier appeared on a copy of the test events schedule obtained by RIA Novosti. The head of the Russian Federation of Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined said in a statement Wednesday that the test event would give Russian athletes an edge at the 2014 Winter Olympics. “This will allow our athletes to get used to the Olympic jump earlier and factor in its characteristics in preparation for the Olympic Games in Sochi,” Alexander Uvarov said. The ski jump complex the first in Russia to meet international FIS standards.