The World Championships in Planica will be half a home game

Planica has already made a name for itself as the organizer of seven ski flying world championships, but it took four applications from the small Slovenian town to finally get the bid to host the Nordic title fights. Today the 53rd World Championships will be officially opened there, from Thursday there will be a total of 24 competitions for gold, silver and bronze in ski jumping, cross-country skiing and Nordic combined.

The scene: Only 30 minutes by car from Villach is the “Nordijski Center Planica” competition site, which actually belongs to the small town of Ratece with 700 inhabitants. The World Cup budget is given as 16 million euros, but the conversion of the ski jump and the cross-country stadium alone in recent years has resulted in significantly higher costs. There will be no “Corona World Cup” without fans like two years ago in Oberstdorf. In Slovenia, which is crazy about winter sports, not only tens of thousands of spectators can be expected, but also spring-like temperatures and plenty of sunshine.

The border crossers: The bar for Austria’s Nordic is high. The most recent title fights in Oberstdorf 2021 were the second most successful world championships with four gold medals, one silver and two bronze medals. “We can go into the World Cup positively, but you can’t assume that everything will be right on day X. You also need a little bit of luck,” says Mario Stecher, the sporting director of the ÖSV. Austria’s teams will cross the border at this World Cup. Ski jumpers and combined athletes are quartered at Lake Faaker See and commute from there to Slovenia via the Wurzen Pass. “We don’t have a problem with that. On the contrary, we’re happy to be at home and in a familiar environment,” says Stecher. Combined world champion Johannes Lamparter thinks less of it: “I’m not a friend of this solution.” The cross-country skiers live on the other side of the nearby Italian border in Tarvis. By the way, Villach expects an increase in 20,000 overnight stays because of the World Cup.

New hits: The Nordic Combined women get two medal chances. After the individual, instead of the men’s team sprint, there will be a mixed team competition for the first time at a World Cup. Athletes from Russia are excluded because of the aggressive war.

Special training at Bergisel and last breather

While their colleagues completed the World Cup in Rasnov last weekend, Austria’s A team of ski jumpers got the finishing touches at home before the World Championships. “The fact that the Innsbruck Bergisel was even prepared for us again was a casual thing,” says Michael Hayböck from Theningen about the preparations.

After further units in Seefeld on the small and large hill, the eagles were given a last little breather at home before the hustle and bustle of the competition.

World Cup squad for Planica

• ski jumping: Women (5): Eva Pinkelnig, Sara Marita Kramer, Chiara Kreuzer, Julia Mühlbacher, Jacqueline Seifriedsberger; Men (6): Stefan Kraft, Clemens Aigner, Manuel Fettner, Michael Hayböck, Jan Hörl, Daniel Tschofenig
• Nordic combination: Women (3): Lisa Hirner, Claudia Purker, Annalena Slamik; Men (6): Martin Fritz, Lukas Greiderer, Johannes Lamparter, Franz-Josef Rehrl, Stefan Rettenegger, Mario Seidl
• cross-country skiing: Women (2): Teresa Stadlober, Lisa Unterweger; Men (5): Michael Föttinger, Philipp Leodolter, Benjamin Moser, Lukas Mrkonjic, Mika Vermeulen