On the weekend of March 9 and 10, you can once again enjoy spectacular ski jumping at Holmenkollbakken. There will be rock 'n' roll and a great atmosphere - join us in the jumping bowl and experience RAW AIR up close. The jumpers will be enjoying themselves with the fans and maybe you'll get a photo with one of your favorites.
First competition days of the season RAW AIR stays in Kollen Here the world's best jumpers will compete for distances and points both in the World Cup and in RAW AIR tournament.
There will be 10 participants in a third round in Sunday's final race in RAW AIR for men in Vikersund this winter, and it will finally be the official World Cup race for women in ski flying. The ski jumpers must master ski flying, big and normal hill to make it to the top of the 2024 tournament. In total, there are 16 counting jumps for both women and men in the tournament this winter.
Last year's winner Halvor Egner Granerud is jubilant about the ending.
- "This is exciting news, and I think it sounds cool. I believe in building more drama around RAW AIR, and I imagine that it will feel exclusive for us athletes with only ten jumpers in the final round. I have faith," says Granerud.
Maren Lundby finds new concepts exciting, and she thinks it's great that new ideas are being developed to make it even more entertaining to be a spectator.
- For our part, it will be important to perform throughout the season to secure a place in Vikersund. In addition, there will be extra excitement related to who the extra athletes will be during RAW AIR, which adds an extra element of excitement to the battle for overall victory. "I think new concepts like this, where you think a little outside the box, will help to give the ski jumping races of the future something new and exciting that will be fun to watch," says Lundby.
FIS meetings in Ski jumping last week. Here, details and rule changes for the coming season were nailed down. Last winter, the first ever FIS women's ski flying race was held in Vikersund, but next season there will be World Cup status and two races. Last year, 15 women were allowed to take part in the ski flying races, but there could be up to 20 this winter. The FIS Ski Jumping Committee decided on Monday that the top 15 in the World Cup standings and the top 15 in the RAW AIR standings will be allowed to ski jump in Vikersund, while an upper limit of 20 female participants has been set.
RAW AIR traditionally starts in Holmenkollen, continues in Granåsen and finishes in Vikersund with ski flying. There will be RAW AIR races on both World Cup slopes in Granåsen for both women and men, and there is an extra element of excitement with three rounds of ski flying in the final race in Vikersund on Sunday, March 17.
- "This is a further development of RAW AIR, initiated by the Director of Ski jumping in FIS, Sandro Pertile, which shows that Norwegian ski jumping has created a tournament that has high interest in terms of increasing the value of our sport. This shows that we live up to our vision "We Want to Be the World's Most Important Jumping Nation"," says Clas Brede Bråthen, Sports Director for Ski jumping in the Norwegian Ski Association.
Facts
Program RAW AIR 2024, Women and men (16 counting Ski jumping for women and men):
8. March: Holmenkollen, HS 134, qualification men and women
9. March: Holmenkollen, HS134, individual race men and women
10. March: Holmenkollen, HS134, qualification and individual race men and women
12. March: Granåsen, HS 105, qualification women, individual race men and women"
March 13: Granåsen, HS 138, qualification women, individual race men and women
March 15: Vikersund HS 240, official training women, qualification men
March 16: Vikersund, HS 240, individual race men and women
March 17: Vikersund, HS 240, individual race women and final race with 3 rounds for men: 30, 20 and 10 jumpers.
Rules:
Holmenkollen will be a regular World Cup weekend with qualifications and two races for 40 women and 50 men.
In Granåsen, there will be races in normal slope on Tuesday and big slope on Wednesday. There will be a qualification and race for 40 women, while the top 50 men in RAW AIR after the races in Holmenkollen will participate in the races in Granåsen, so there will be no qualifications for the men there.
In Vikersund, the top 15 women in the World Cup overall, as well as up to 5 among the top 15 in RAW AIR, after the races in Granåsen will participate in the two ski flying races on Saturday and Sunday. The top 50 men in RAW AIR after the races in Granåsen will participate in qualification in Vikersund on Friday, of which the top 40 will compete in Saturday's race. On Sunday, the top 30 men in RAW AIR will start in the first round. The top 20 from here will jump in the second round, while the top 10 after two rounds will compete for RAW AIR in a third final round.
