From January 30th-February 5th, 2006, the best young athletes in Ski Jumping, Cross-Country and Nordic Combined will gather in Slovenia for the first FIS Nordic World Championships there. In 1992, Maribor hosted the 11th FIS Alpine Junior World Championships which it repeated with great success in 2004. This time, the 17th FIS Nordic Junior Ski World Championships will also include the first official FIS U23 (under 23 years) World Championships for Cross-Country.
Altogether, 60 medals will be awarded in six days; 42 in Cross-Country (24 for U18 and 18 for U23), nine in Ski Jumping and nine in Nordic Combined (both U18 only). A total of 1002 athletes from 38 nations have registered to compete in Slovenia. Another premiere in the Kranj competition program is the first official Junior World Championship competition for ladies in Ski Jumping in which 30-40 competitors are expected to participate.
Two cities, Kranj and Medvode, will serve as competition venues. Ski Jumping will take place at the National Nordic Skiing Centre of Kranj and Cross-Country skiing at the Preska Cross-Country Center near Medvode located at an altitude of just over 300m. “Last weekend, we hosted the Slovenian national championships in pursuit and individual sprint as test races for the FIS Junior World Championships. The weather forecast for the next several days promises cold temperatures and possibly even snowfall so we are confident about the snow situation and look forward to some very exciting competitions here in Medvode,†said Uros Ponikvar, Chief of Competition for Cross-Country junior and U-23 competitions.
The opening, closing and medal ceremonies will take place in the old town of Kranj, including other side events such as theater, music and film performances as well as traditional Slovenian folk shows.
Source: FIS
