Bloudkova velikanka

Bloudkova velikanka
Bloudkova velikanka (on the rigt) reconstructed and rebuilt on the same original spot
Constructor(s)	Ivan Rožman (original) Stanko Bloudek (developer) Klemen Kobal (new)
Location	Planica, Slovenia
Operator	ZŠRS Planica
Opened	4 February 1934 (old) 14 October 2012 (new hill)
Renovated	1936, 1937, 1948, 1951–1954, 2011–12
Closed	1942–1946, 1951–1953, 2001–2011
Demolished	2011
Size
K–point	125 m
Hill size	139 m
Longest jump (unofficial / fall)	149 m (489 ft) Anže Lanišek
Official hill record	142 m (466 ft) Peter Prevc
Top events
World Cup	1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2014

Normal Hill
Constructor(s)	Klemen Kobal
Opened	14 October 2012
Size
K–point	95 m
Hill size	104 m
Longest jump (unofficial / fall)	106 m (466 ft) Dejan Judež
Top events
World Cup	2014

Bloudkova velikanka (also: Rožman/Bloudkova velikanka, Old Bloudkova velikanka, Large Rožman/Bloudek Hill) is a large ski jump hill in Planica, Slovenia opened in 1934 by Joso Gorec's initiative.^[1] The hill was originally constructed by Ivan Rožman who invented and first in the world used so called "snow cement".^[2] and unfairly named after Stanko Bloudek. The hill was renamed Rožman/Bloudkova velikanka posthumously to honor Rožman. A year after opening, Stanko Bloudek became the main constructor, improving the hill until his death and with his vision and skills made Planica world-famous and brought ski jumping/ski flying to a whole new dimension. As a builder, he is credited with 13 world records and in 1936 the first jump in history over 100 metres. Thus, a new sport was born right on this hill. Hill's axis and name are under national monument protection and cannot be changed. After almost a decade of inactivity, the hill was completely renovated and reopened in 2012. Right next to this one they built a brand new normal hill which replaced the old demolished one about 100 metres to the south.

History

Stanko Bloudek
(hill named after him)

1932: Gorec hires Bloudek

It all began with Joso Gorec from Ljubljana, a key figure and the most important person for the beginning of ski jumping in Planica and the hill's reputation all over the world. At time he was a general secretary of »Yugoslavian Winter Ski Association« and member of »Ilirija Sport Club« from Ljubljana. He was also the first person looking for consensus at FIS to recognize Ski Flying as a new discipline. He tried to make Slovenia important with building the largest ski jumping hill in the world.

In 1932 Gorec asked engineer Stanko Bloudek, his friend from »Ilirija Sport Club«, to construct a large hill. Bloudek draw plans for K-80 hill, as FIS didn't allow any bigger hills at that time. Bloudek decided on the location and staked out the hill. However, at the same time Ivan Rožman from Ljubljana, a construction company owner and engineer drew plans for K-90 hill. Gorec decided to build this bigger hill using Rožman's plan instead of Bloudek's plan, who was then left out.

1933: Rožman comes with new plan

Starting the construction brought up some problems, as the local population from Rateče was opposed to building the venue and didn't want to sell the land the hill was supposed to be situated on. They were eventually convinced and the construction lasted from October–December 1933.

1934: Opening and first international

On 4 February 1934 the hill, unfairly named the Bloudkova velikanka (Velika Rožman/Bloudkova skakalnica), was opened with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia National championships. The winner was Franc Palme from Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now Slovenia). With 55 and 60 meters he set the first two hill records and the national record at the same time. In March they organized the first international competition when Birger Ruud set the first world record in Planica with 92 meters.^[3] Later his brother Sigmund Ruud touched the snow at 94 meters, a world record distance.

1935: Bloudek replaces Rožman

In 1935 Stanko Bloudek as a constructor took control over the hill. From here he was the main engineer for renovating and enlarging the hill until his death. Under his renovations 11 world records were set.

The same year Ivan Rožman stepped out as an engineer in Planica, starting the argument on who was the original constructor and why the hill isn't named after him. Rožman blamed Joso Gorec, who turned to Bloudek's side and named hill after him, although Bloudek didn't draw the original plans. For years, there was a public misconception that Bloudek was the original hill constructor while the original constructor was Ivan Rožman. At that time Stanko Bloudek was member of Ilirija Sport Club and because of that Joso Gorec was supposedly quiet and gave him connivance. Stanko Bloudek also never spoke about this in public.

1936: First time over 100 metres

Stanko Bloudek in Planica

On 15 March 1936 Austrian Sepp Bradl was the first man in history to have officially jumped over one hundred meters. He jumped 101.5 meters, which had to be displayed as 101 on the scoreboard due to not enough space.

1938: Two world records

In 1938 Sepp Bradl again set a new world record with 107 meters. This year Joso Gorec went to the regular FIS congress in Helsinki where he was defending bold plans of Stanko Bloudek and fighting for recognition of the Ski flying discipline, which FIS was against. He was supported by Sir Arnold Lunn, who said FIS simply couldn't prevent sky flying competitions. Lunn also had big problems with FIS not recognizing slalom and downhill disciplines. Reinhard Straumann also joined Joso Gorec and support him in this initiative. FIS finally allowed ski flying competitions but only for study purposes.

From 1960

1939: First lift in Planica

In 1939 Stanko Bloudek constructed a first simple 300 meters long funicular with two parallel routes on a scree in Planica. It was on a scree on a way from Planica to Tamar Valley. Sigmund Ruud gave the hill name "Mammoth Hill" in his book "Skispuren kruezen die Welt" (Ski tracks cross the world) which was published in 1939.

1941: Five world records

In 1941 Germans built a new judge tower called Nemški stolp (German tower) which still stands today as a cultural heritage and can't be demolished. The tower, however, was useless even back then because it was under the hill level, so you could not see what was happening on it. There was also a competition that year with a couple new world records, longest 118 meters by Rudi Gering. No competitions took place in Planica for the next six years.

1947: First after war

In 1947 competition returned with Yugoslavian winner Rudi Finžgar, more known as co-founder of Elan, a Slovenian ski manufacture company.

From 1963

1948: Last world record

In 1948 the last world record was set on this hill when Fritz Tschannen from Switzerland jumped 120 meters. Yugoslavian Janez Polda with 120 m and Swiss Charles Blum with 121 m, both fell at world record distance.

1950: End of domination

In 1950, Planica lost the world record after 14 years. It was also the last competition before the Bloudkova velikanka collapsed and before first major renovation.

1952: Small Planica school hills

In 1952 Stanko Bloudek constructed three small hills called »Planica School Hills«, later covered with plastic.

1954: Renovation, new judge tower

Under renovation they built a new judging and television tower and new profile of the hill. Hill was reopened and back in use for the Planica's Ski Flying week in March 1954. Bloudek was in charge until his death in 1959.

1980: First world cup event

First World Cup competition was in 1980 and the winner was Austrian jumper Hubert Neuper. The Bloudek Giant became a standard and regular host of World Cup Ski Jumping events exchanging with flying hill Letalnica bratov Gorišek and normal hill up to 1998 when it stopped for a longer period of time. After that all events were held at flying hill.

From 2011

1998: Peterka won second overall

Record holder of original hill was Noriaki Kasai who jumped 147.5 meters in the World Cup final in 1998 which was also the unofficial world record for large hills at that time and at the same time the hill record of old Bloudkova velikanka. This was the last World Cup competition that was held on this old hill.

2001: Hill collapse and closure

Hill was in use until 16 December 2001 when the upper part of concrete bows collapsed. The last international competition and last jump on old hill was held in this year. For many years after the hill collapsed there were plans and promises to renovate the hill but nothing happened for ten years. At that period of time Slovenia had no large hill in condition to compete or train.

2010: New chairlift

From 2014

In 2009 they had to build a new chairlift and to replace old popularly called Hugo old cable railway, which was no longer under International Ski Federation standards in order to keep the world cup events.

2011: Old hill demolished

In July 2011 they demolished inrun, judge tower and TV tower, but left German tower who is part of Slovene culture heritage. The last calculation line of the old hill was at K130 and last hill size at HS 140.

2011–2012: Renovation

As Republic of Slovenia and Planica Nordic Center signed the contract for complete renovation of ski jumping hills, the renovation finally began. At the same location where the original large hill was standing, which is also part of Slovene culture heritage, they rebuilt the hill at the hill size of 139 meters with the new profile, new inrun, and new judge and TV towers. Just next to the large hill they built a new normal hill with hill size at 104 meters which replaced the old K-90 hill which us to stand just 100 meters away. Both hills were opened at 14 October 2012 with national championships.

First person who jumped on new HS 139 hill was Slovene V-jumper Aleš Hlebanja from Rateče. He got this honour to be the first because his grandmother was first of many owners who sold private property around the hill to the Republic of Slovenia and activate other owners to do the same. This made possible to finally start building Nordic Center in Planica. Primož Peterka was honoured to jump as first on new HS 104 hill.^[4] Later, Primož Peterka and Aleš Hlebanja made simultaneous jumps on the normal and large hill respectively as an official opening of both.

They demolished and replaced old service object »Čaplja« (Heron) with new object which is standing on the same location as the old one. An old cable railway constructed by Stanko Bloudek is also part of Slovene culture heritage and was completelly restored in 2014.

Both hills were designed by the team of Slovenian architects Matej Blenkuš, Miloš Florijančič and Klemen Kobal from Abiro. Blenkuš and Florijančič articulated the architecture of the ski jump while Kobal took care for the profile and they kept the typical Stanko Bloudek arch in the upper part of the hill.

2014: World Cup and hill record

In 2014, they organized the World Cup events for the first time since 1998, with three events for ladies and three for men. In January there were two ladies events on HS 104 hill, both won by Daniela Iraschko-Stolz. In March they organized four Final World Cup events on HS 139 hill. Winner of ladies individual event was Sara Takanashi, Team event winner was Austria, Severin Freund won first individual event and Peter Prevc the last event of the season with the new hill record of 142 meters. Just a couple of days later Anže Lanišek jumped 149 meters at Slovenian Nordic Combined National Championships and set absolute, yet unofficial record of the hill.

2015: Hugo railway lift reopened

Hugo railway lift, constructed by Stanko Bloudek in the 1950s, was in a bad condition and had to be demolished. But because it is under a national monument protection it was reconstructed on the same place with same materials.

Events

Men

Date	Hillsize	Competition	Winner	Second	Third
4 February 1934	K90	OP	Franc Palme	Bogo Šramel	Gregor Klančnik
23–26 March 1934	K90	INT	Birger Ruud	Sigmund Ruud	Gregor Höll
14–17 March 1935	K106	INT	Stanisław Marusarz	Antonín Bartoň	Marcel Reymond
10–15 March 1936	K106	INT	Sepp Bradl	Gregor Höll	Rudolf Rieger
14–15 March 1938	K106	SFS	Sepp Bradl	Hans Wiedemann	Walter Delle Karth
16–17 March 1940	K120	SFS	Sepp Bradl	Gustl Berauer	Paul Häckel
26 February - 2 March 1941	K120	SFS	Rudi Gering	Paul Krauß	Hans Lahr
17–24 March 1947	K120	SFS	Rudi Finžgar	Charles Blum	Fritz Tschannen
13–17 March 1948	K120	SFS	Fritz Tschannen	Jean Zurbriggen	Charles Blum
14–17 March 1950	K120	SFS	Janez Polda	Rudi Finžgar	Sverre Stenersen
13–14 March 1954	K120	INT	Ossi Laaksonen	Jack Alfredsen	Hemmo Silvennoinen
8–10 March 1957	K120	ISFW	Helmut Recknagel	Eino Kirjonen	Pekka Tirkkonen
25–27 March 1960	K120	ISFW	Helmut Recknagel	Arne Larsen	Raimo Vitikainen
22–24 March 1963	K120	KOP	Dieter Bokeloh	Dietmar Klemm	Veit Kührt
25–27 March 1966	K120	SFW	Jiří Raška	Mihail Veretennikov	Dieter Neuendorf
24 March 1968	K120	3rd JPM	Jiří Raška	Josef Matouš	Willi Schuster
23–24 March 1973	K120	6th JPM	Walter Steiner	Heinz Wosipiwo	Josef Matouš
12 April 1975	K120	KC	Toni Innauer	Rudi Wanner	Janez Loštrek
13 April 1975	K120	7th JPM	Willi Pürstl	Bogdan Norčič	Rudi Wanner
20 March 1976	K120	KC	Hans Wallner	Bogdan Norčič	Peter Leitner
21 March 1976	K120	8th JPM	interrupted and cancelled; weather conditions
19 March 1978	K120	9th JPM	Reinhold Bachler	Bogdan Norčič	Marko Mlakar
22 March 1980	K120	WC	Hubert Neuper	Armin Kogler	Hans Millonig
22 March 1981	K120	WC	Dag Holmen-Jensen	Armin Kogler	Alfred Groyer
28 March 1982	K120	WC	Ole Bremseth	Hubert Neuper	Massimo Rigoni
27 March 1983	K120	WC	Primož Ulaga	Horst Bulau	Richard Schallert
25 March 1984	K120	WC	Pavel Ploc	Vegard Opaas	Piotr Fijas
23 March 1986	K120	WC	Ernst Vettori	Andreas Felder	Matti Nykänen
27 March 1988	K120	WC	Primož Ulaga	Rajko Lotrič	Didier Mollard
26 March 1989	K120	WC	Jens Weißflog	Kent Johanssen	Andreas Felder
24 March 1990	K120	WC	Roberto Cecon	Ari-Pekka Nikkola	Jens Weißflog
25 March 1990	K120	WC	Ari-Pekka Nikkola	Dieter Thoma	Primož Ulaga
28 March 1992	K120	WC-T	Austria Andreas Felder Martin Höllwarth Werner Rathmayr Heinz Kuttin	Germany Christof Duffner Andreas Scherer Ralph Gebstedt Jens Weißflog	Finland Ari-Pekka Nikkola Toni Nieminen Raimo Ylipulli Risto Laakonen
29 March 1992	K120	WC	Andreas Felder	Heinz Kuttin	Toni Nieminen
27 March 1993	K120	WC-T	Japan Masahiko Harada Noriaki Kasai Takanobu Okabe Naoki Yasuzaki	Norway Roar Ljøkelsøy Bjørn Myrbakken Helge Brendryen Espen Bredesen	Slovenia Robert Meglič Matjaž Zupan Urban Franc Samo Gostiša
28 March 1993	K120	WC	Espen Bredesen	Andreas Felder	Christof Duffner
12 December 1993	K120	WC	Jens Weißflog	Andreas Goldberger	Espen Bredesen
9 December 1995	K120	WC-T	Finland Jani Soininen Mika Laitinen Ari-Pekka Nikkola Janne Ahonen	Japan Jinya Nishikata Kenji Suda Hiroya Saito Masahiko Harada	Norway Espen Bredesen Eirik Halvorsen Roar Ljøkelsøy Lasse Ottesen
10 December 1995	K120	WC	Mika Laitinen	Roar Ljøkelsøy	Janne Ahonen
24 March 1996	K120	IEX	Primož Peterka	Andreas Goldberger	Samo Gostiša
21 March 1998	K120	WC	Kazuyoshi Funaki	Primož Peterka	Hiroya Saito
22 March 1998	K120	WC	Noriaki Kasai	Hiroya Saito	Martin Höllwarth
21 March 2014	HS139	WC	Severin Freund	Anders Bardal	Peter Prevc
22 March 2014	HS139	WC-T	Austria Stefan Kraft Andreas Kofler Thomas Diethart Gregor Schlierenzauer	Poland Maciej Kot Piotr Żyła Klemens Muranka Kamil Stoch	Norway Andreas Stjernen Tom Hilde Anders Fannemel Anders Bardal
23 March 2014	HS139	WC	Peter Prevc	Severin Freund	Anders Bardal

Ladies

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

Normal hill events

Ladies

Date	Hillsize	Competition	Winner	Second	Third
25 January 2014	HS 104	WC	Daniela Iraschko-Stolz	Sara Takanashi	Carina Vogt
26 January 2014	HS 104	WC	Daniela Iraschko-Stolz	Sara Takanashi	Carina Vogt

Record

Old Date Length 4 February 1934 Franc Palme 55.0 m 4 February 1934 Franc Palme 60.0 m 25 March 1934 Per Jonson 78.0 m 25 March 1934 Birger Ruud 78.0 m 25 March 1934 Sigmund Ruud 81.0 m 25 March 1934 Sigmund Ruud 82.0 m 25 March 1934 Gregor Höll 83.0 m 25 March 1934 Sigmund Ruud 85.0 m 25 March 1934 Birger Ruud 87.0 m 25 March 1934 Per Jonson 89.0 m 25 March 1934[5] Birger Ruud 92.0 m 14 March 1935 Reidar Andersen 93.0 m 15 March 1935 Stanisław Marusarz 95.0 m 15 March 1935 Reidar Andersen 98.0 m 15 March 1935 Reidar Andersen 99.0 m 15 March 1936[6] Sepp Bradl 101.5 m 15 March 1938[6] Sepp Bradl 107.0 m Date Length 2 March 1941[6] Rudi Gering 108.0 m 2 March 1941[6] Franz Mair 109.0 m 2 March 1941[6] Hans Lahr 111.0 m 2 March 1941[6] Paul Krauß 112.0 m 2 March 1941[6] Rudi Gering 118.0 m 15 March 1948 Fritz Tschannen 120.0 m 8–10 March 1957 Helmut Recknagel 120.0 m 8–10 March 1957 Helmut Recknagel 124.0 m 25–27 March 1960 Helmut Recknagel 124.5 m 25–27 March 1960 Helmut Recknagel 127.0 m 25–27 March 1966 Jiří Raška 129.0 m 25–27 March 1966 Jiří Raška 130.0 m 21 March 1976 Lennart Elimä 132.0 m 22 March 1981 Armin Kogler 134.0 m 27 March 1993 Noriaki Kasai 145.5 m 22 March 1998 Noriaki Kasai 147.5 m 13-17 Mar 1948 falls at world record: Janez Polda at 120 m and Charles Blum 121 m.

New Date Length 2 February 2013 Jaka Rus 111.0 m 2 February 2013 Gašper Martinčič 114.0 m 2 February 2013 Rok Zima 116.0 m 2 February 2013 Anssi Koivuranta 116.0 m 2 February 2013 Robert Johansson 117.0 m 2 February 2013 Roman Trofimov 118.5 m 2 February 2013 Vegard Haukø Sklett 120.0 m 3 February 2013 Rok Zima 121.0 m 3 February 2013 Jakob Grimholm 126.0 m 3 February 2013 Nicolas Mayer 135.0 m 15 February 2013 Shota Horigome 136.0 m 21 March 2014 Anders Bardal 136.5 m 21 March 2014 Severin Freund 137.5 m 21 March 2014 Severin Freund 137.5 m 22 March 2014 Tom Hilde 138.5 m 22 March 2014 Piotr Zyla 141.0 m Date Length 23 March 2014 Severin Freund 141.0 m 23 March 2014 Peter Prevc 142.0 m 29 March 2014 Anže Lanišek 149.0 m

See also

• Letalnica bratov Gorišek
• Srednja Bloudkova
• Planica Nordic Centre

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bloudek Giant.

• Official website (Slovene) (English)
• Planica Nordic Centre

Coordinates: 46°28′43.62″N 13°43′20″E / 46.4787833°N 13.72222°E / 46.4787833; 13.72222