Planica is ready for thousands of visitors

Tomaž Šušteršič, OC Planica Secretary General

I strongly believe that the upcoming week will be very intense, full of joy and success. Planica will once again be as we are used to – full of life. The announcement, which came on February 19, first cheered us up, and at the same time, put us on real ground. Regardless of all the transitional scenarios, we were aware that this would be one hell of a month of final preparations for the biggest Slovenian sports holiday. So we tackled this, rolled up our sleeves and today we are almost standing in front of the finish line. We are waiting for the athletes and spectators to join us to do it. It will all start with the flying hill test on Wednesday from 10 a.m. onwards.

There are 16 teams on the entry list, 72 athletes and about 250 team members. On Saturday, in the team competition, we can expect 8 teams that will compete for a place on the podium.

There have always been a lot of questions about tickets and those that have already been purchased in 2020. The latter have, for the most part, already been exchanged. The redemption of these vouchers is taking place these days. The original deadline was today, March 18, but in cooperation with our ticket sellers, Kompas, Petrol and Eventim, we decided to extend the deadline until Wednesday, March 23, when these vouchers can be redeemed for new tickets. I especially want to emphasize - there is no entry to the event site with vouchers, as well as no entry with an old ticket. The change must be made in advance.

Planica's budget somehow goes back to the years before the pandemic. The budget of the event is 2.8 million euros. We believe that a good part of this will be contributed by spectators by purchasing tickets, catering activities at the event venue and, last but not least, by purchasing Planica’s official items in online shop.

Aljoša Dolhar, Chief of competition

Running a competition in front of spectators is an even greater responsibility that I feel and am very well aware of. The world record happens. We will do everything, just like every year, to make everything optimally prepared. The weather forecast looks optimistic for now and the temperatures will be relatively high, which means front wind.

Wind problems are not in sight at the moment. I had the opportunity to talk to our athletes and was pleasantly surprised at how much desire and how focused the guys are to fly far. These are the three factors, excluding the jury, required for the record. We all want it, we haven't had it in too long. We hope that it will return to Planica. However, we must keep in mind that safety comes first and we will not go beyond that.

Regarding the preparation of the hill, we are completely in line with the timetable. There was enough artificial snow in stock to avoid possible problems if we had some extremely high temperatures, which are not uncommon in Planica in March.

Marjan Jakše, Security & steward service

Again there are warnings, which we have repeatedly emphasized, in order to make the spectators feel safe. Winter conditions will continue in Planica, despite the fact that slightly warmer weather is forecasted. But there is still snow and that is why we urge visitors to come prepared for such conditions. Visitors should take care of safety on their own initiative. The organizer will place information boards at the entry control points. These are signs that warn visitors there is a ban on prohibited items - explosives, various excessive amounts of alcohol and of course things that can cause any harm to visitors or to all those who are also involved there. Information boards will also be set up.

There will also be orientation boards, which are placed high and are visible from everywhere. Lost persons can be invited over the sound system to appear there.

The organizer wants everyone to feel safe, but visitors must also help us in this direction. Do not bring prohibited items, do not go drunk to the venue, do not bring alcohol. Follow the instructions of police officers and directors and security guards.

Jože Ajdišek, Traffic, transport and ticketing

The traffic regime is going back to the old, familiar times. I would like to highlight just a few things. Selection of buses and vans on Saturday on the highway, where buses and vans without the appropriate parking stickers are sent to the Karavanke plateau to buy the right stickers.

The next segment is the bicycle road from Rateče to Planica. We use this road to walk to Planica, and at the same time we organize another footpath through the forest from Rateče to the event site.

For visitors with tickets and accreditations who will be staying in the area of Kranjska Gora transport will be organized. For those with accreditations, departure from the parking lot of Kompas Hotel will take place in three positions. The central part of the parking lot will be intended for athletes who are in their own bubble, the lower part will be intended for the media and accreditations of Klub Planica, and in the upper part there will be transport for all others.