Introducing FIS World Championship
candidates – Planica, Slovenia
Planica's creative bid - Other
Planica is one of four candidates bidding to host the 2019 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Slovenia is a storied land with hundreds of years of tradition, so it seems only fitting to introduce Planica’s bid to host the 2019 Championships with a fairy tale:
“In the 17th century, when the first traces of his skis cut into the snow-covered Slovenian countryside, the skier from Bloke (known as the man with a strange walk) became a hero of our time, with his name written in gold in the history of Slovenia. He was a Slovenian, a nobody who became a somebody, a person who accepted everything that nature had to offer and helped to write the history of skiing in Slovenia.”
Planica is one of the most beautiful valleys in the Alps. A special place where Nordic sports started to developed. The new Nordic center, currently being finalised, is built by the highest standards, which would allow Planica to organise such a major event. This year, Planica already hosted the FIS World Cup Finals in Ski Jumping on the new Bloudek hill.
In the next year, the Cross-Country stadium, with all the necessary facilities and tracks, will be finished. A new era will then begin in Planica.
Cross-Country skier Petra Majdic, Planica 2019 Ambassador, perhaps summed it up best when she said, “small countries deserve an opportunity as well.” Former ski jumper Franci Petek, also Planica 2019 Ambassador, added: “My father first took me to Planica when I was 6 years old. It is a charming tradition that the Slovenian people go to Planica. I cherish the tradition and take my Aids to Planica every year, and I know they will want to see the WCS in 2019.”
If you want to know how the fairy-tail ends, visit our stand in Barcelona and get your copy of the book “The last dreams of the man with a strange walk”.
