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Big Thunder Ski Jumping Center

Coordinates: 48°17′15″N 89°23′00″W / 48.28750°N 89.38333°W / 48.28750; -89.38333
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Big Thunder Ski Jumping Centre
Big Thunder
LocationNorthwestern Ontario
Thunder Bay
Canada
Opened1963 (1963)
Closed1996 (1996)
Size
K–pointK-120
K-90
Hill recordTommy Ingebrigtsen (137.0 m (449 ft))
Takanobu Okabe (108.0 m (354 ft))
Top events
World Championships1995

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.

History

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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

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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

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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.

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

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Marion, John-Paul. "Big Thunder frozen in time". Superior Outdoors: 26–30. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  2. ^ a b 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. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 21 January 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  5. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 21 January 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  6. ^ a b International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  7. ^ a b International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  8. ^ a b International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  9. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  10. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  11. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  12. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  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.
  15. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  16. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  17. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  18. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  19. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  20. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  21. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  22. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  23. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  24. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  25. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  26. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  27. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  28. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  29. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  30. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  31. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  32. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  33. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  34. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  35. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  36. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  37. ^ International Ski Federation. "Results". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.

48°17′15″N 89°23′00″W / 48.28750°N 89.38333°W / 48.28750; -89.38333

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