Industry News
One of this Adirondack village’s marquee winter sports events will be missing from the calendar this year. The FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, slated for December 13–14 at the Lake Placid Olympic Jumping Complex, has been canceled and relocated to Klingenthal, Germany, after inspections revealed structural issues with the HS128 Large Hill’s observation deck.
A recent review found damage to steel supports on the deck, part of a structure built for the 1980 Winter Olympics. While officials stressed that the jump and tower remain structurally sound, the work required to fix the deck will block access to the athlete pathway leading to the in-run — a safety and operational standard mandated by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS). The repairs will involve skyscraper-style scaffolding and are expected to take about 15 weeks, according to the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), which manages the venue.
“The Olympic Authority remains fully committed to ski jumping in Lake Placid and to maintaining world-class facilities that meet the highest standards of international competition,” Darcy Norfolk Rowe said, ORDA’s communications director. “While relocating this year’s World Cup is a difficult but necessary decision, we look forward to completing these improvements and welcoming the world back to future World Cup events after construction.” World Cup Ski Jumping events had returned to Lake Placid in the 20022-23 season after a 33-year hiatus.
FIS Ski Jumping Race Director Sandro Pertile called the cancellation “a great pity” but expressed confidence the work will be completed promptly. “We are counting on the organizers in Lake Placid and, of course, want to return there with the World Cup as soon as possible,” he said. USA Ski Jumping CEO Tom Bickner acknowledged the disappointment but said the long-term outlook remains positive.
Lake Placid’s smaller HS100 Normal Hill remains open, and the U.S. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined National Championships—part of the annual Flaming Leaves Festival—are still scheduled for October 11–12.
Very suspicious what’s going on with ORDA . They have put 10’s of Millions of dollars into there ski resorts in the past 5-10 years . But they weren’t properly maintaining your Olympic level ski jump properly. This just reeks of NY corruption to me .