With the kick off of the second edition of the Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski races in December, the Golden Ski event in Nove Mesto na Morave will celebrate its 70th anniversary.
The Golden Ski is the most famous skiing competition organized in Nove Mesto and one of the oldest skiing races in the Czech Republic and Europe. The first edition took place on January 6-7, 1934. It was founded by Secretary of the Ski Association of Czechoslovak Republic, Josef JÃlek, who presented the Sport Club with a new trophy — the Golden Ski of the Bohemian and Moravian Highlands. His objective was to motivate young athletes with this new attractive prize. He found his inspiration in the Parsenn Derby of Davos (SUI), which is one of the oldest Alpine races. The trophy was passed on year-after-year and the athlete who won the main race in Nordic Combined three times back-to-back or five times in total became its keeper. Bohumil Kosour (1913 – 1997), who won the race in 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1949 is the only athlete to keep the trophy. The Sport Club donated a new prize thereafter — an approximately 15 cm long ski made of 14 carat gold, together with a detailed binding.
Since 1974, as the statutes of the competition were changed, the winner of the main Men's Cross-Country race becomes a keeper of the Golden Ski prize. “The Golden Ski has been organized as a FIS World Cup event many times, and it is now also the kick-off of the FIS Tour de Ski. We are very proud of that and hope that many ski fans will come to Nove Mesto and celebrate with us on December 28-29,†says Petr Honzl, President of the Organizing Committee.
Source: FIS
