Uroš Zupan, director of the Ski Association of Slovenia
Let me start with one interesting thing related to Thursday in Planica. The Ski Association of Slovenia is celebrating 100 years, and in the 55 years since insurance company Triglav has been with us, 100,000 children have been to Planica. All these kids are coming back, they are excited about ski jumping, I believe many of them have started jumping as well. Today, however, we have the opportunity to welcome the world champions at home. This happens very rarely. This is another added charm of this upcoming event.
Tomaž Šusteršič, OC Planica secretary general
Planica is now a little less white than it was a few weeks ago, but everything else is practically ready. Preparations have been going on since the last Planica, this year was also like that, even though we were preparing three big events.
The arrival of the competing teams is expected mostly on Wednesday, when there will also be a meeting of the team lcaptains in the evening. At the moment, 16 teams, 72 competitors and a little less than 400 team members are registered. I would like to thank the local community, the municipality of Kranjska Gora, the residents of Rateče, who, as usual, will organize a public reception for all national teams, which will be held on Thursday at 18.00 in the center of the village. In Kranjska Gora, starting bibs handout will take place on Saturday evening.
The competition programme has not changed much in recent years. Perhaps the only thing worth noting is Friday's competition, when the trial round starts at 14.00., and the first round at 15.00. An hour later than we are used to, that is. The sports part will also be accompanied by a rich accompanying program with musical groups and musicians who will entertain the visitors after the athletes have done their part.
With the World Cup, Planica continues to follow all sustainability commitments, and we also continue with last year's successful story of NFT tokens. The Planica 2022 collection was premiered in winter sports. This year we are preparing to continue this in collaboration with the Mastercard 255 to the Moon conference. This conference will highlight the latest trends in modern technologies with more than 20 international speakers.
Aljoša Dolhar, chief of competition
We practically started preparing for last year's competition last April. About 20,000 cubic meters of artificial snow was made before the start of the Nordic World Ski Championships. At this moment, we have the inrun ready, it is ready for jumps. This year, we invested extra attention and more effort, and we managed to optimize certain things on the inrun. At the landing, the situation is a little different. There is enough snow, but in the last week we haven't had conditions that would allow us to work with a machine, with a snow groomer. This weekend, a large working action at the hill is planned, when approximately 100 people will devote themselves to the manual preparation of the landing zone. We expect it to be roughly ready by Tuesday afternoon, when the inspection by the technical delegate and the rest of the jury is announced.
We have the flying hill test scheduled for Wednesday. We decided to set the test time on Monday afternoon, based on the latest weather forecast. Two times are planned. One is at 10.00. In case of high temperatures and sunshine, we will postpone the test to 15.00 to avoid any problems.
The weather forecast is favourable. The temperatures will be low, even below 0 degrees, which is also very suitable for us for the detailed preparation of the hill, which in an ideal scenario can also lead to a world record. But above all, we want to prepare the hill well, for safe and long flights, and this record would be the icing on the cake.
Marjan Jakše, head of security
We all know that Planica is a big event. I would like to praise our cooperation with the police, which is at a high level and of course we will need their help this year as well. The organizer prepared for the event by writing the recommendations and all the things that happen at the event site and also for a sense of security at the event site, on website. All our announcements go in the sense that we will feel safe in Planica, that we watch this event with joy and safety.
We kindly ask all visitors to follow the instructions of the security guards, especially from the point of view that this is the only way we will be able to ensure their safety and, above all, the pleasure of watching long flights.
Jure Ajdišek, head of logistics
The plan is to provide all visitors with as smooth and pleasant an experience as possible. We have prepared well for this. The access and entry regime in Planica will be the same as last year. Most of the parking spaces are in the Planica area. First, of course, we will fill these parking spaces, and when they are full, we will start filling the parking spaces on the route to Kranjska Gora. Of course, free round-trip bus transportation will be available for all those who will not park in Planica. The entry points in Kranjska Gora are the bus station and the parking lot at the police station. Buses will also stop in Podkoren and Ledine in Rateče.
More than 4,000 children of Triglav will come to Planica again this year
The largest Slovenian insurance company, which has been inextricably linked with Planica for 55 years, will once again co-create the biggest Slovenian sports festival with the Children of Triglav campaign.
At the Golden Partner of Planica, this year they upgraded their cooperation with the top sports event and invited young fans to submit drawings of the sustainability cup for the Planica 7 competition. "More than 430 drawings were submitted. In this way, we encouraged many young fans to combine their love of sports and cheering with creativity and to spend quality free time. I am particularly pleased that the young author of the winning drawing will be able to personally hand over the sustainability cup to the winner of Planica 7 next Sunday," added Cene Prevc, who as an ambassador of the Children of Triglav campaign also took on the role of a member of the commission of the drawing competition.
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