At the latest since the public announcement by ski jumping boss Sandro Pertile it is clear: the World Cup calendar is facing a change. And in view of the planned merger of women’s and men’s team, this will not stop at traditional places, as will Ljubno, as well as the Slovenian Ljubno. His head of organization is aware of the impending end, but has great hopes and plans.
Anyone who has ever seen the almost tranquil Ljubno OB Savniji in the northeast of Slovenia will hardly be able to imagine what is going on there on a weekend of the year: Then the 2,500-soul place bursts at the seams and greets a multiple of its residents to the ski jumping World Cup of women.
On January 27, 2024, 10,000 visitors flocked to the Logarska-Dolina hill and thus ensured a world record for a pure women’s World Cup-and only a few six months after the place and the ski jump had been difficult to hit the floods.
This event symbolizes Ljubno’s 70-year ski jumping history: every obstacle was taken, every setback was put away. So also the loss of the New Year’s Tournament to attempt to establish a counterpart to the four-hill tour in the Women’s World Cup, in the same year. According to the German Ski Association of the Two-Nights tour, this had to give way, in which Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberstdorf are jumped at least in the German tours.
In 2024 there was still a third, albeit indirect bad news for the organizers: FIS race director Sandro Pertile presented his plans for the merger of women’s and men’s World Cup, which ideally should be completed in the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan/Cortina.
World Cups in Ljubno only secured by 2027
A year later it is clear that things will not go quite as quickly – good news for Ljubno. Organization chief Rajko Pintar confirmed to sport.dethat “two more World Cups are secured, 2026 and 2027.” But what comes afterwards? “The future is uncertain,” he admitted.
All the more, however, the support of Pertile, which he guaranteed him in a letter that the Slovenian broadcast “RTV” had first reported on in a letter. Pintar expressed that he is happy about any form of support, be it the number of spectators on site, on TV, or statements by athletes. The fact that the ski jumping boss also belongs has “exceptional weight and is” crucial for the further extraction of broader support and important government funding. “
And it will need support and funds, because with the current ski jump there are the chances of staying in the World Cup beyond 2027, at zero. The profile of the Logarska Dolina is not very contemporary and also has a whole series of serious injuries. For example at the last World Cup in February 2025, when Norwegian Thea Minyan Bjørseth caught a total damage to her knee and arm injuries, which not only cost her the home World Cup in Trondheim, but also participating in the Olympics next winter.
A new and above all significantly larger system is needed – and very soon. “Time is pushing,” says Pintar. A first plankish for the construction of a large hill with K-point 125 was presented in autumn 2022, now you think about an even larger system. If this receives a K point between 135 and 164 meters, it would be the first so-called Giant Hill Slovenia. As of July 2025, there is no hill in this type worldwide.
Four and a half years to the new ski jump
One does not want to finally decide yet, but the first steps have already been taken, as Pintar revealed: “We have just completed a feasibility study that covered various aspects of the construction of such a large system. We have dealt particularly intensively with the analysis of the construction costs, possible financing models and long -term operating costs.” Due to the size of the project, the talks also go beyond regional partners that all conceivable sources of financing are to be found, “possibly also European”, as the official discussed.
In this phase 0, as Pintar calls it, in addition to securing financing, the focus will also be on the final project planning and approval. As soon as that has happened, the construction of the hill can begin in order to continue to be able to organize World Cups. At the same time, additional infrastructure measures are to take place in two further phases before the project is fully completed. “About four and a half years” would go into the country for all steps, although the count has already started.
“If we show that this project is realistic,” said the 71-year-old, one could negotiate with Pertile and his colleagues at the Ski World Association FIS, “to secure further competitions in the coming years and thus ensure continuity until the project has been completed. Therefore, the quick and determined actions of all involved are crucial in order to proceed from analysis to prepare and medium procurement.”
However, he and his team also evaluated the consequences of waiving the construction of the new ski jump, which was just as important to show “what the city, the region, the country, sport, tourism and the economy have to lose.”
Organization chief: “We deserved the right to new ski jump”
Despite this possible scenario, the former teacher, politician and journalist and his team want to “remain optimistic, because this is the only way we can secure the long -term future of the World Cup in Ljubno.” It is also expressly about organizing men’s World Cups that have not yet existed in this place, but in the future due to the desired merger of the World Cup calendar, a must for everyone.
Pintar even describes this as “natural next step, as an extension of the program and as an adaptation to the direction in which ski jumping develops.” Ljubno is open to aligning World Cups on different data if this should be requested and “expressly on the same conditions for both genders”, as the official emphasized. An identical number of competitions for women and men are supported.
The now 14 consecutive editions of the Women’s World Cup give the organizer a certain self-confidence and believe in their own strength, like Rajko Pintar opposite sport.de In conclusion, “With this organization team, this frenetic fans and this history, we can confidently describe Ljubno as the best organized event of the calendar. This means that we deserve the right to build this new ski jump, to preserve and build this tradition on it.”
The Slovenian ski jumpers around double world champion and overall World Cup winner Nika Prevc, who have a large proportion of Ljubno’s status with her performance, also undoubtedly also hope for that and raved about frenetic fans and atmosphere every year.