Norway could face further qualifications from world championship events in an affair around manipulated ski jumping suits, race director Sandro Pertile has said.
Pertile said ahead of the weekend's World Cup finals in Planica, Slovenia that he would not rule out German Andreas Wellinger being declared normal hill world champion if there are further disqualifications at the end of an external probe.
Governing body FIS had originally ruled out new classifications in events beyond the large hill where Norwegians Andreas Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang were disqualified after originally finishing second and fourth, respectively, at the home worlds in Trondheim.
"We didn't know on that Saturday night what had happened. You must understand the whole situation, and understand when these manipulations started. The decisions will then be very firm," Pertile told dpa.
An anonymous and secretly taken video showed Norwegian staff adding a forbidden extra seam to the suits which gives the jumper more stability in the air. Norway admitted to the manipulation, for that one event, and five jumpers and officials have been suspended.
Lindvik, who along with Forfang said they knew nothing about the manipulation, won the normal hill competition a week earlier ahead of Wellinger. Both were also part of the Norwegian team that won mixed team gold ahead of Slovenia.
The FIS has tasked an external commission to establish the facts. Pertile said he expects results by summer, and that the jumpers and officials remain suspended until then.
