Bloudkova velikanka

Bloudkova velikanka (English: Bloudek Giant), also Bloudek-Rožmanova velikanka, is a large ski jumping hill in Planica, Slovenia, originally opened in 1934. In 2001 the hill collapsed and was completely rebuild in 2012. Next to the large hill, they also built a brand new normal hill to replace the old demolished one. A total of ten world records were set at the venue in the 1930s and 1940s.

Bloudkova velikanka
Bloudkova velikanka in 2014
Constructor(s)	Ivan Rožman (original) Stanko Bloudek (developer) Klemen Kobal (new hill)
Location	Planica, Slovenia
Operator	ZŠRS Planica
Opened	4 February 1934 (original) 14 October 2012 (new hill)
Size
K–point	125 metres (410 ft)
Hill size	138 metres (453 ft)
Longest jump (unofficial / fall)	149 metres (489 ft) Anže Lanišek
Hill record	New hill: 142 metres (466 ft) Peter Prevc Old hill: 147.5 metres (484 ft) Noriaki Kasai
Top events
World Cup	1980–1984, 1986, 1988–1990, 1992–1993, 1995, 1998, 2014

The hill was originally constructed by Ivan Rožman, and was named after Stanko Bloudek. It was later renamed to Bloudek-Rožmanova velikanka in honour of Rožman. A year after opening, Bloudek became the main constructor, improving the hill until his death. In 1936, Josef Bradl became the first man in history to jump over 100 metres (330 ft).

History

Ski jumping in Planica began to develop when the village of Rateče received railway connections. The first K20 hill was built in 1930, located in the middle of the Planica-Rateče road, with some remains still visible today.[1][2]

On 20 December 1931, the ski resort Dom Ilirija (now Dom Planica) opened at the initiative of Joso Gorec, who was at the time the General Secretary of the Yugoslav Winter Sports Association and a member of the Ilirija Ski Club Ljubljana.[3] Next to the hotel, a swimming pool and tennis courts were built,[3] as Gorec had a vision that Planica would become a modern nordic ski resort in the future.[4][5]

1932–1934: Construction and opening

Stanko Bloudek

In 1932, Joso Gorec asked constructor Stanko Bloudek to construct a large hill, so he drew plans for the K80 hill, which was the largest size allowed by the International Ski Federation at the time.[6] Bloudek found a suitable location and did a geodetic survey, started the construction, but soon ran out of money. Ivan Rožman, the owner of a construction company, immediately stepped in and drew plans for the K90 hill. Gorec decided to rather build a larger hill using Rožman's plans instead of Bloudek's plans, who was then left out.[7]

In 1933, construction began and was completed in only two months, from October to December. Problems arose before construction started as local farmers from the Rateče area did not want to sell the land, but they eventually changed their minds and sold it.

On 4 February 1934,[8] Bloudkova velikanka, constructed by Ivan Rožman, was officially opened with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia National Championships in front of 2,500 people. Franc Palme won the competition with 55 and 60 m (180 and 197 ft) and set the first two hill records and the national record at the same time.[3]

On 25 March 1934, the first international competition was organised where Birger Ruud won the event in front of 4,000 people and also set the first world record in Planica with 92 metres (302 ft).[9][10] There were also three invalid world record distances with touches or crashes: Birger Ruud at 87 metres (285 ft), Gregor Höll at 89 metres (292 ft), and Sigmund Ruud at 95 metres (312 ft).[11]

1935–1941: Hill expansion, naming arguments and world records

Bloudek returned to Planica and took control over the hill as a constructor/developer until his death in 1959.[3] He constructed a new and larger K106 hill. The same year Rožman stepped out as an engineer in Planica.[3] They argued over who was the original constructor and why the hill was not named after him. Rožman blamed Joso Gorec, who named the hill after his friend Bloudek, although Rožman was the original constructor. For years, there was a public misconception that Bloudek was the original hill constructor. Years later, the hill was renamed to Bloudek-Rožmanova velikanka.

On 17 March 1935 there was an international competition with over 12,000 visitors. During the competition, one world record was set by Stanisław Marusarz (95 metres) and three by Reidar Andersen (93, 98 and 99 metres).[12][13][14]

On 15 March 1936, Josef Bradl became the first man in history to have officially jumped over 100 metres, landing at 101.5 metres (333 ft). The distance had to be displayed as 101 metres on the scoreboard due to lack of space.[7][15][16] Two years later, Josef Bradl won the Ski Flying Study competition with another world record at 107 metres (351 ft) with minor hill improvements.[17][18]

On 2 March 1941, the last Ski Flying Study competition before the World War II outbreak in Yugoslavia was held, with 15,000 spectators in attendance.

After two scheduled rounds and Rudi Gering's world record distance at 108 metres (354 ft), the organizers wished to end the event due to safety concerns, but it continued on Germany's request. The fourth and final round had a series of long jumps: Heinz Palme reached 109 metres (358 ft), but a ground touch invalidated his world record distance. Then Gering set the world record at 118 metres (387 ft), winning the official afternoon competition. Right after him the rest jumped in that order: Hans Lahr (111 metres), Paul Krauß (112 m), and Franz Mair (109 m with fall).[19][20][21]

Old hill in 1963

1947–2001: The last hill world record, World Cup, and collapse

On 24 March 1947, the first post-war competition was held. The winner of the Ski Flying Week was Rudi Finžgar, who also set a new national record of 102 metres (335 ft) during training.[22][23]

Between 14 and 17 March 1948, there was a four-day international ski flying week competition in front of a total 20,000 spectators. Fritz Tschannen won the competition, and also set the last world record on the hill at 120 metres (390 ft). There were also two world record distance crashes by Janez Polda (120 metres) and Charles Blum (121 metres).[24][25]

In 1954, the hill was renovated as a new concrete judge tower was built.[3] In addition, the hill was expanded, received a new profile, and was reopened and back in use for the Planica's Ski Flying week in March 1954.[3]

In 1980, Bloudkova velikanka hosted the first FIS Ski Jumping World Cup event. The hill became a standard and regular host of World Cup events until 1998. Since 1998, all Planica events were held on the ski flying hill (Letalnica bratov Gorišek).

Reconstructed hill in 2014

The hill was in use until 16 December 2001, when the upper part of the concrete foundation collapsed during a snowmaking.[3][26] In the same year, the last international competition on the old hill was held. For many years after the collapse of the hill, there were plans to rebuild it.[27] A decade later, in July 2011, they demolished the inrun, the judge tower and the television tower,[3] but left the "German tower" which is part of the Slovenian culture heritage.[28] The last construction point of the old hill was at K130 and the last hill size at HS140.

2011–present: Reconstruction

In July 2011, the Slovenian government and the Planica Nordic Centre signed a contract for the complete renovation of the hill, worth €6.2 million.[29] At the same location where the original large hill was standing, which is also part of the Slovenian culture heritage, they rebuilt the hill at the hill size of 139 metres with a new profile, inrun, and judge and television towers.[30] Right next to the large hill they built a new normal hill with the hill size of 104 metres. Both hills were designed by Slovenian architects Matej Blenkuš, Miloš Florijančič and Klemen Kobal.[30] The hills were opened on 14 October 2012 with the national championships.[31]

The first person who jumped on the new HS139 hill was Aleš Hlebanja.[31] He received this honour because his grandmother was the first to sell a private property around the hill.[32] Primož Peterka was honoured with an inaugural jump on the new HS104 hill.[31] In 2014, Bloudkova velikanka hosted the World Cup event for the first time since 1998, because the main ski flying hill was closed at the time due to major renovations.[33]

Events

Men's

Year	Date	Hillsize	Event	Winner	Second	Third
1934	4 February	K90	OP	Franc Palme	Bogo Šramel	Gregor Klančnik
	25 March	K90	INT	Birger Ruud	Sigmund Ruud	Gregor Höll
1935	17 March	K106	INT	Stanisław Marusarz	Antonín Bartoň	Marcel Reymond
1936	15 March	K106	INT	Josef Bradl	Gregor Höll	Rudolf Rieger
1938	16 March	K106	SFS	Josef Bradl	Hans Wiedemann	Walter Delle Karth
1940	10 March	K120	SFS	Gregor Höll	Josef Bradl	Gustl Berauer
1941	2 March	K120	SFS	Rudi Gering	Paul Krauß	Hans Lahr
1947	24 March	K120	SFS	Rudi Finžgar	Charles Blum	Fritz Tschannen
1948	17 March	K120	ISFW	Fritz Tschannen	Hans Zurbriggen	Charles Blum
1950	15–17 March	K120	ISFS	Janez Polda	Rudi Finžgar	Sverre Kronvold
	19 March	K120	EXH	Rudi Finžgar	Slattsveen	Janez Polda
1954	13–14 March	K120	ISFW	Ossi Laaksonen	Jack Alfredsen	Hemmo Silvennoinen
1957	9–10 March	K125	ISFW	Helmut Recknagel	Eino Kirjonen	Pekka Tirkkonen
1960	26–27 March	K120	ISFW	Helmut Recknagel	Arne Larsen	Raimo Vitikainen
1963	22–24 March	K120	KOP	Dieter Bokeloh	Dietmar Klemm	Veit Kührt
1966	25–27 March	K120	ISFW	Jiří Raška	Mihail Veretennikov	Dieter Neuendorf
1968	24 March	K120	JPM.3	Jiří Raška	Josef Matouš	Willi Schuster
1973	25 March	K120	JPM.6	Walter Steiner	Heinz Wosipiwo	Josef Matouš
1975	12 April	K120	KCUP	Toni Innauer	Rudi Wanner	Janez Loštrek
	13 April	K120	JPM.7	Willi Pürstl	Bogdan Norčič	Rudi Wanner
1976	20 March	K120	KCUP	Hans Wallner	Bogdan Norčič	Peter Leitner
	21 March	K120	JPM.8	interrupted; weather conditions
1978	19 March	K120	JPM.9	Reinhold Bachler	Bogdan Norčič	Marko Mlakar
1980	22 March	K120	WC	Hubert Neuper	Armin Kogler	Hans Millonig
1981	22 March	K120	WC	Dag Holmen-Jensen	Armin Kogler	Alfred Groyer
1982	28 March	K120	WC	Ole Bremseth	Hubert Neuper	Massimo Rigoni
1983	27 March	K120	WC	Primož Ulaga	Horst Bulau	Richard Schallert
1984	25 March	K120	WC	Pavel Ploc	Vegard Opaas	Piotr Fijas
1986	23 March	K120	WC	Ernst Vettori	Andreas Felder	Matti Nykänen
1988	27 March	K120	WC	Primož Ulaga	Rajko Lotrič	Didier Mollard
1989	26 March	K120	WC	Jens Weißflog	Kent Johanssen	Andreas Felder
1990	24 March	K120	WC	Roberto Cecon	Ari-Pekka Nikkola	Jens Weißflog
	25 March	K120	WC	Ari-Pekka Nikkola	Dieter Thoma	Primož Ulaga
1992	28 March	K120	WC Team event	Austria	Germany	Finland
	29 March	K120	WC	Andreas Felder	Heinz Kuttin	Toni Nieminen
1993	27 March	K120	WC Team event	Japan	Norway	Slovenia
	28 March	K120	WC	Espen Bredesen	Andreas Felder	Christof Duffner
	12 December	K120	WC	Jens Weißflog	Andreas Goldberger	Espen Bredesen
1995	9 December	K120	WC Team event	Finland	Japan	Norway
	10 December	K120	WC	Mika Laitinen	Roar Ljøkelsøy	Janne Ahonen
1996	24 March	K120	EXH	Primož Peterka	Andreas Goldberger	Samo Gostiša
1998	21 March	K120	WC	Kazuyoshi Funaki	Primož Peterka	Hiroya Saito
	22 March	K120	WC	Noriaki Kasai	Hiroya Saito	Martin Höllwarth
2014	21 March	HS139	WC	Severin Freund	Anders Bardal	Peter Prevc
	22 March	HS139	WC Team event	Austria	Poland	Norway
	23 March	HS139	WC	Peter Prevc	Severin Freund	Anders Bardal

Women's

Year	Date	Hillsize	Event	Winner	Second	Third
2014	22 March	HS139	WC	Sara Takanashi	Yuki Ito	Julia Clair

Normal hill events

Women's

Year	Date	Hillsize	Event	Winner	Second	Third
2014	25 January	HS104	WC	Daniela Iraschko-Stolz	Sara Takanashi	Carina Vogt
	26 January	HS104	WC	Daniela Iraschko-Stolz	Sara Takanashi	Carina Vogt

List of world records

A total of ten official world records have been set at the hill.[21][34]

Date Athlete Length 25 March 1934 Birger Ruud 92 metres (302 ft) 14 March 1935 Reidar Andersen 93 metres (305 ft) 15 March 1935 Stanisław Marusarz 95 metres (312 ft) 15 March 1935 Reidar Andersen 98 metres (322 ft) 15 March 1935 Reidar Andersen 99 metres (325 ft)

Date Length 15 March 1936 Josef Bradl 101.5 metres (333 ft) 15 March 1938 Josef Bradl 107 metres (351 ft) 2 March 1941 Rudi Gering 108 metres (354 ft) 2 March 1941 Rudi Gering 118 metres (387 ft) 15 March 1948 Fritz Tschannen 120 metres (390 ft)

See also

• Letalnica bratov Gorišek
• Planica Nordic Centre
• Srednja Bloudkova

References

1. Teran Košir, Alenka; Mavrič, Petra (15 March 2018). "Dogodki, ljudje in stvari, ki so zaznamovali Planico" (in Slovenian). Siol. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
2. "K25, Rateče". skisprungschanzen.com. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
3. "Planica od skromnih začetkov do doline skakalnih rekordov (kronologija)" (in Slovenian). Slovenian Press Agency. 19 March 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
4. "Smučarsko slavje pod Jalovcem". Jutro (in Slovenian). 21 December 1931. p. 1. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
5. "Praznik našega zimskega sporta". Slovenski narod (in Slovenian). 21 December 1931. p. 1. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
6. "Planiška letalnica z vidika geodezije" (PDF). geodetski-vestnik.com (in Slovenian). 2004. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
7. Guček, Aleš (13 March 2010). "Neznana znana Planica". smucisca.net (in Slovenian). Retrieved 1 December 2020.
8. "Bloudkova velikanka". travel-slovenia.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 11 March 2016.
9. "Svetovni rekordi na naših tleh / Rekord za rekordom". Jutro (in Slovenian). 26 March 1934. p. 1. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
10. "Birger Ruud: A family of ski jumpers". sports.jrank.org. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
11. "Višek smučarske sezone". Slovenec (in Slovenian). 25 March 1934. p. 14. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
12. "V Planici so že dosegli 93-metrsko znamko". Jutro (in Slovenian). 15 March 1935. p. 7. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
13. "V Planici tik pred zaželjenim ciljem". Jutro (in Slovenian). 16 March 1935. p. 7. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
14. "Andersen: 99 m". Slovenec (in Slovenian). 16 March 1935. p. 2. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
15. "Planica — 101 m!". Jutro (in Slovenian). 16 March 1936. p. 1. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
16. "Smuške tekme na Planici brez Norvežanov". Ponedeljski Slovenec (in Slovenian). 16 March 1936. p. 1. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
17. "107 m na planiški skakalnici". Slovenec (in Slovenian). 16 March 1938. p. 7. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
18. "Bradl je skočil 107 m". Slovenski narod (in Slovenian). 16 March 1938. p. 4. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
19. "Veliki dan smuških poletov v Planici". Slovenec (in Slovenian). 2 March 1941. p. 4. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
20. "18 skokov nad 100 metrov, od njih dva na 106 m". Jutro (in Slovenian). 1 March 1941. p. 8. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
21. "Znamki 101 za nas in 108 m za Nemce". Jutro (in Slovenian). 3 March 1941. p. 1. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
22. "V Planici pet poletov nad 100 metrov". Slovenski poročevalec (in Slovenian). 23 March 1947. p. 6. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
23. "Teden smuških poletov v Planici je zaključen". Slovenski poročevalec (in Slovenian). 25 March 1947. p. 5. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
24. "Izredni uspehi jugoslovanskih in inozemskih skakalcev v Planici". Slovenski poročevalec (in Slovenian). 16 March 1948. p. 6. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
25. "Planica naj ostane edina mamutska skakalnica na svetu". Slovenski poročevalec (in Slovenian). 18 March 1948. p. 7. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
26. "Bloudek-Rožmanova velikanka v Planici se je podrla" (in Slovenian). Slovenian Press Agency. 17 December 2001. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
27. Potočnik, Brigita (28 August 2005). "Počasna obnova Bloudkove velikanke". 24ur.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2 December 2020.
28. Fon, Boštjan (27 September 2011). "Od Bloudkove velikanke ostal le Nemški stolp". Slovenske novice (in Slovenian). Retrieved 1 December 2020.
29. T. V. (8 July 2011). "Čakanja je konec: začela se bo obnova Bloudkove velikanke" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
30. "Foto in video: Nordijski center Planica – izjemen kompleks svetovnih dosežkov" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. 16 March 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
31. S. J. (14 October 2012). "Foto/video: Primož Peterka v Planici odprl prenovljeni ponos slovenskega športa" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
32. Lopatič, Jaka (14 October 2012). "Hlebanja: Babici sem se že zahvalil" (in Slovenian). Siol. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
33. Lopatič, Jaka (18 March 2014). "Planica po svetovni rekord prihodnje leto, letos po svetovno prvenstvo" (in Slovenian). Siol. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
34. Da. B. (15 March 2016). "Kdo in kdaj je pod Poncami podrl rekord?". Žurnal24 (in Slovenian). Retrieved 24 January 2018.

External links

• Official website
• Planica Nordic Centre
• List of international events (1934–2011)
• List of Planica & Slovenian national records