Letalnica

Infobox ski jumping hill
hill_name = Letalnica brothers Gorisek
nickname = Flying hill brothers Gorisek


caption =
location =
city = Planica
country = Slovenia
opened = 1969
renovated = many times
expanded =
closed =
demolished =
size =
k-spot = K-185
hill size = HS215
hill record = Bjørn Einar Romøren
(239.0 m in 2005)
championships =
olympics =
world championships =
*1972 Ski-flying World Championships
*1979 Ski-flying World Championships
*1985 Ski-flying World Championships
*1994 Ski-flying World Championships
*2004 Ski-flying World Championships

Letalnica brothers Gorisek is a ski flying hill located in Planica, Slovenia. It's the biggest jumping hill in the world, sometimes called "the mother of all jumping hills".

The first ski jumping hill was constructed before 1930 at the slope of the Ponca mountain. In 1934 Stanko Bloudek constructed a larger hill, sometimes also called the mammoth hill. The first ski jump over 100 metres was achieved here in 1936 by the Austrian Sepp Bradl.

In 1969 a new K-185 hill was constructed by Lado and Janez Gorišek. Since 1985, when Matti Nykänen flew 191 metres, new world records have always been set at Planica rather than any other ski jumping hill (e.g. Kulm in Austria, Harrachov in the Czech Republic, Oberstdorf in Germany or Vikersundbakken in Norway).

In 1994, Toni Nieminen of Finland was the first ski jumper in history to jump over 200 metres (actually it was Andreas Goldberger of Austria, but he fell at 202m the same day before him). The current world record stands at 239 metres, set by Bjørn Einar Romøren of Norway in 2005.

The ski jumping infrastructure is fairly outdated at the moment (ski jumpers must walk uphill for most of their way to the top of a hill). In 2001 the Bloudek's old K-130 hill collapsed and has not been reconstructed yet due to endless bureaucratic troubles. Regardless, the International Ski Federation still allows competitions at the K-185 hill and many are hopeful that Planica will mature into a modern winter sports centre.

Renovation plan

The Slovenian government has recently come up with a plan to renovete ski jumping infrastructure in Planica and astablish a new modern Nordic Center there. The project is expected to cost 100 mio € and is expected to be completed by 2013. The Nordic Center will include renovated ski jumps, new Multi-use Stadium and a Ski Jumping Museum.

Planica winners

The list bellow shows past winners of the ski jumping & ski flying competitions in Planica. [http://www.planica.info/index.php?i=20&l=3]

External links

* http://www.planica.info/