Big Thunder Ski Jumping Center

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Big Thunder Ski Jumping Centre
Big Thunder
Big Thunder Ski Jump.jpg
Location Northwestern Ontario
Thunder Bay
Canada
Opened1963 (1963)
Closed1996 (1996)
Size
K–point K-120
K-90
Hill record Tommy Ingebrigtsen (137.0 m (449 ft))
Takanobu Okabe (108.0 m (354 ft))
Top events
World Championships 1995

Big Thunder Ski Jumping Centre was a twin ski jumping hill located in Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. It constitutes part of Big Thunder National Training Centre. The first hills were built by Knute and Thor Hansen and opened in 1963. They were originally known as Lille Norway Ski Area, then Mt. Norway Ski Area, and Sundance Northwest Resort before taking the current name. The large and normal hills were built in 1974 and the venue was taken over by the provincial government in 1985. The hills hosted 29 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup and 50 Canadian Ski Jumping Championships tournaments between 1975 and 1995, climaxing with the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1995. Funding was then cut and the venue has since been closed and unmaintained.

Contents

History

The location was first identified by Knute Hansen, a ski jumper who felt that a location on Mount McRae in Lakehead would be ideal for a ski jumping hill. He and Thor Hansen built the first jumps, which were opened in 1963 and named Lille Norway Ski Area. In 1969, after the Hansens had fallen into financial difficulties, the venue was sold and renamed Mt. Norway Ski Area. Additional land for the complex was also leased, and the provincial government provided funding to construct the main twin hill. Construction of the 70 meter and 90 meter (current K-90 and K-120) hills was completed in 1974. The following year, the venue hosted its first Canadian Ski Jumping Championships. Three years later, the venue was again sold, this time being named Sundance Northwest Resort. In 1981, the Provincial Government of Ontario started redeveloping the site to transform it into a national training center. In 1985, the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation bought the site. In the course of five years, they built a K-64 hill, as well as Little Thunder, which consisted of K-10, K-20 and K-37 hills. The two largest of these were equipped with porcelain in-runs and plastic landing slopes, allowing for their use during summer. [1]

In 1990, the venue was awarded the hosting of the 1995 Nordic World Ski Championships. This required a major upgrade to the infrastructure, including floodlights. World Cup tournaments were placed on hold after 1991 for the upgrades. The venue hosted the Pre-World Championships, part of the World Cup, in 1994. In the final jumping event in the 1995 World Championships, Tommy Ingebrigtsen set a hill record of 137.0 meters (449 ft), 9 meters (30 ft) beyond the previous hill record. [1]

During the campaigning for the 1995 Ontario provincial election, Conservative Party leader Mike Harris deemed Big Thunder a "cash cow" as part of his Common Sense Revolution. Following the party's victory in the election, the venue was closed. [1] Even though the venue closed, it still costs the province several hundred thousand dollars per year. [2] The citizens group Friends of Big Thunder Bay announced on 1 March 2010, following the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, that they had sent a letter of intent to the provincial government where they stated that they wished to re-open the sports park. [3] They intend to not only reopen the hill, but also the associated sports area and provide year-round training of ski jumping, freestyle skiing, cross-country skiing, mountain biking, event hosting and hiking. Ski Jumping Canada has asked the province to establish a training facility for ski jumping in Ontario, stating that lack of facilities make it difficult for Canada to produce ski jumpers for the world scene, and that this among other things will result in poor performances in the Olympics. [2]

Events

Big Thunder was a regular site for the FIS Nordic Ski Jumping World Cup, and arranged a world cup round, typically with two jumps, every season from 1980 through 1991. Nordic combined was, in addition to the World Championships, hosted twice, in 1989 and in 1994. [4] [5] The last World Cup tournament was held in 1994 as a Pre-World Championship tournament. [1]

Contested between 9 and 19 March 1995, the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is the hallmark of the venue, and the only major world championship to be contested in Northern Ontario. [1] The Nordic combined individual took place on 9 March, and was won by Fred Børre Lundberg ahead of Jari Mantila. The following day saw Japan win ahead of Norway and Finland in the Nordic combined team event. In ski jumping, the individual normal hill event took place on 12 March, which saw a double Japanese victory with Takanobu Okabe winning ahead of Hiroya Saito. [6] The team event in the large hill on 16 March saw Finland win ahead of Germany and Japan. [7] In the large hill individual event on 18 March, Tommy Ingebrigtsen set a new hill record and won ahead of Andreas Goldberger. [8]

Results

The following is a list of all FIS Ski Jumping World Cup and FIS Nordic World Ski Championship tournaments held at Big Thunder, with the date, hill and top three finishing athletes or teams.

DateHillGoldSilverBronzeRef
19 January 1980K-120 Flag of Austria.svg Armin Kogler Flag of France.svg Bernard Moullier Flag of Austria.svg Alfred Groyer [9]
20 January 1980K-120 Flag of Austria.svg Armin Kogler Flag of Austria.svg Hubert Neuper Flag of Austria.svg Toni Innauer [10]
21 February 1981K-90 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Primoz Ulaga Flag of Norway.svg Johan Sætre Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Steve Collins [11]
22 February 1981K-120 Flag of the United States.svg John Broman Flag of Norway.svg Ivar Mobekk Flag of Austria.svg Andreas Felder [12]
23 January 1982K-90 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Horst Bulau Flag of Italy.svg Massimo Rigoni Flag of Austria.svg Ernst Vettori [13]
24 January 1982K-120 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Horst Bulau Flag of Italy.svg Massimo Rigoni Flag of Austria.svg Hubert Neuper [14]
22 January 1983K-90 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Horst Bulau Flag of Norway.svg Olav Hansson Flag of Finland.svg Pentti Kokkonen [15]
23 January 1983K-120 Flag of Finland.svg Matti Nykänen Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Horst Bulau Flag of Norway.svg Olav Hansson [16]
10 December 1983K-90 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Horst Bulau Flag of Finland.svg Matti Nykänen Flag of Norway.svg Vegard Opaas [17]
11 December 1983K-120 Flag of Norway.svg Vegard Opaas Flag of Finland.svg Matti Nykänen Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Horst Bulau [18]
8 December 1984K-90 Flag of Austria.svg Andreas Felder Flag of Finland.svg Pentti Kokkonen Flag of Austria.svg Ernst Vettori [19]
9 December 1984K-120 Flag of Austria.svg Andreas Felder Flag of Finland.svg Jari Puikkonen Flag of Austria.svg Ernst Vettori [20]
7 December 1985K-90 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Primoz Ulaga Flag of Norway.svg Vegard Opaas Flag of Finland.svg Matti Nykänen [21]
8 December 1985K-120 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Primoz Ulaga Flag of Austria.svg Franz Neuländtner Flag of Austria.svg Ernst Vettori [22]
6 December 1986K-90 Flag of Germany.svg Jens Weißflog Flag of Finland.svg Matti Nykänen Flag of Finland.svg Jukka Kalso [23]
7 December 1986K-120 Flag of Finland.svg Matti Nykänen Flag of Germany.svg Thomas Klauser Flag of Norway.svg Vegard Opaas [24]
5 December 1987K-90 Flag of Finland.svg Matti Nykänen Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Pavel Ploc Flag of Austria.svg Ernst Vettori [25]
6 December 1987K-120 Flag of Finland.svg Matti Nykänen Flag of Germany.svg Thomas Klauser Flag of Germany.svg Jens Weißflog [26]
3 December 1988K-90 Flag of Germany.svg Dieter Thoma Flag of Finland.svg Risto Laakonen Flag of Finland.svg Matti Nykänen [27]
4 December 1988K-120 Flag of Finland.svg Risto Laakonen Flag of Norway.svg Erik Johnsen Flag of Germany.svg Dieter Thoma [28]
3 December 1989K-90 Flag of Germany.svg Dieter Thoma Flag of Austria.svg Heinz Kuttin Flag of Finland.svg Ari-Pekka Nikkola [29]
4 December 1989K-120 Flag of Finland.svg Risto Laakonen Flag of Austria.svg Andreas Felder Flag of Austria.svg Heinz Kuttin [30]
8 December 1990K-90 Flag of Austria.svg Andreas Felder Flag of Germany.svg Dieter Thoma Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Franci Petek [31]
9 December 1990K-120 Flag of Austria.svg Andreas Felder Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Franci Petek Flag of Finland.svg Ari-Pekka Nikkola [32]
1 December 1991K-90 Flag of Finland.svg Toni Nieminen Flag of Finland.svg Ari-Pekka Nikkola Flag of Austria.svg Stefan Horngacher [33]
2 December 1991K-120 Flag of Austria.svg Ernst Vettori Flag of the United States.svg Mike Holland Flag of Switzerland.svg Stephan Zünd [34]
25 March 1994K-120 Flag of Germany.svg Germany Flag of Norway.svg Norway Flag of Japan.svg Japan [35]
26 March 1994K-90 Flag of Germany.svg Gerd Siegmund Flag of Austria.svg Andreas Goldberger Flag of Italy.svg Roberto Cecon [36]
27 March 1994K-90 Flag of Germany.svg Jens Weißflog Flag of Japan.svg Takanobu Okabe Flag of Norway.svg Espen Bredesen [37]
12 March 1995K-90 Flag of Japan.svg Takanobu Okabe Flag of Japan.svg Hiroya Saito Flag of Finland.svg Mika Laitinen [6]
16 March 1995K-120 Flag of Finland.svg Finland Flag of Germany.svg Germany Flag of Japan.svg Japan [7]
18 March 1995K-120 Flag of Norway.svg Tommy Ingebrigtsen Flag of Austria.svg Andreas Goldberger Flag of Germany.svg Jens Weißflog [8]

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References

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  2. 1 2 Dunick, Leith (8 February 2010). "Big chance for Big Thunder". Thunder Bay News . Archived from the original on 17 February 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  3. ↑ Northern Ontario Business staff (4 March 2010). "Citizens group wants Thunder Bay ski jump venue re-opened". Northern Ontario Business . Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  4. ↑ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 21 January 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
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  9. ↑ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
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  13. ↑ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  14. ↑ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
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  31. ↑ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 22 February 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  32. ↑ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 22 February 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
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  34. ↑ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
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Coordinates: 48°17′15″N89°23′00″W / 48.28750°N 89.38333°W / 48.28750; -89.38333

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