Čerťák is a
ski jumping
Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...
stadium with two
hills
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as mountains. Hills fall und ...
in
Harrachov in the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
.
It was built in 1979 and both hill officially opened in 1980. The venue is most notable for being one of five
ski flying
Ski flying is a winter sport discipline derived from ski jumping, in which much greater distances can be achieved. It is a form of competitive individual sport, individual Nordic skiing where athletes descend at high speed along a specially de ...
hills in the world, though it also has three smaller hills close by. It is owned by the sports club
TJ Jiskra Harrachov. Audience capacity is about 50,000. Despite being a flying hill, only two
world records have ever set at Čerťák, both in the 1980s. It was also during this time, and into the early 1990s, that many horrific accidents occurred.
The hills
The hills are located on the north side of the mountain ÄŒertova hora, not far from the border to
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. The first hill in Harrachov was built in 1922, but at a different location in town. Later in the 1920s the first hill in Čerťák was built. It was eventually expanded and supplemented with more hills. The ski flying hill was built in 1979 and opened in March 1980.
The large hill in Harrachov was built at the same time as the ski flying hill, and renovated in 1992. This hill has a
K-point of 125 m and a
hill size of 142 m. The official record is 145.5 m, set by
Janne Ahonen on 12 December 2004 during the
2004–05 World Cup season. The unofficial record is 151 m set by
Martin Koch (Austria) on 17 December 2004 in a
Continental Cup event.
The normal hill has K-point of 90 m, a hill size of 100 m and a hill record of 102.5 m. The two smaller hills have K-points of 70 m (hill record 77 m) and K-point 40 meters (hill record 43.5 m). The standard hill has plastic mats, allowing summer use.
The ski flying hill in Harrachov garnered an early reputation of being quite dangerous from which to jump. In its early years, jumpers achieved a significant height over the knoll, up to 12 m. The result of this height was that a gust of wind or error from the jumper could end catastrophically, and there were indeed many injuries from bad falls. During the World Championship in 1983, injuries were suffered by
Steinar Bråten,
Horst Bulau and
Jens Weißflog. In 1985,
Pavel Ploc suffered a violent crash. The venue was eventually closed by the
FIS and rebuilt between 1989 and 1992, and has since kept the requirements from FIS. Accidents have still occurred, however: in 1992,
Andreas Goldberger fell out of the air at the highest point of his jump and crashed very hard.
Events
Normal hill
Large hill
Flying hill
Hill record
Large hill
Flying hill
Official
Invalid
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Certak
Ski areas and resorts in the Czech Republic
Ski jumping venues in the Czech Republic
Ski flying venues
Sports venues in the Liberec Region
Sport in Harrachov
Sports venues completed in 1980
1980 establishments in Czechoslovakia
20th-century architecture in the Czech Republic