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Ski flying in Planica comes back this weekend!

In 1934 a small alpine valley in northwestern Slovenia started its history making in ski jumping and ski flying. The first giant ski jumping hill in Planica allowed a man to ski-fly over 100 meters and then over 200 meters for the first time in history.

The first world record (92 meters) was done by a Norwegian, Birger Ruud. Two years later Josef Bradl from Austria landed at 101 meters  – a distance that turned ski jumping into “ski flying”. After the Second World War, Planica was renovated and 1948 was another successful year with a new record of 120 meters by a Swiss Fritz Tschanen. In the fifties new ski-flying jumps in Oberstdorf, Kulm and Vikersund took away Planica’s primacy until a year of 1969 when Planica took back its dominat role as the first ski jumping hill in the world.

Who would not remember the extraordinary jump of Manfred Wolf from The German Democratic Republic, when he set a new world record with a 165 meters and other heroes and world record holders such as Helmut Recknagel, Jiří Raška, Bjørn Wirkola, Heinz Wosipiwo and Walter Steiner. In 1994, the 50th anniversary of Planica, Toni Nieminen reached over 200 meters as the first man in the history. Until today, the record has been pushed close to 240 metres. It seems like the limits of Planica will never be reached!

Explore EUscreen Virtual Exhibition about Planica and find out more about the history of ski flying.

ski jumping

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