4. Vysočina Arena

Just twenty years ago, in the world of sports, Nové Město na Moravě was called “the Ski heart of the Vysočina region”. Since then, the cross-country site on the edge of the Ochoza forest underwent some significant changes. Aside from cross-country skiing, currently popular biathlon and mountain bike races were added to the sports variety. In regard to all three sports, Nové Město hosts major world-scale events. One of the first upcoming “highlights” will be the Biathlon World Championship on February 5 to 18, 2024.

First, let us take a quick stroll through history. The first ski races held in the Novoměstsko region took place in 1910, while the beginning of the famous Golden Ski dates to 1934. For a long time, the races started and finished at the town square. As the ski races developed, this model was no longer an option, mostly due to the lack of necessary facilities for all athletes. At the beginning of the 1960s the city officials produced the idea to move the Golden Ski out of town and build a proper stadium together with a hotel.

As an appropriate location, they chose a grassland at the edge of the Ochoza forest. For the final look of the hotel, the then officials found inspiration in High Tatras. In particular at Štrbské Pleso, where a construction of a FIS hotel was finishing before the 1970 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. The transfer of the idea to the Vysočina region was successful and construction began in April 1968. Despite some complications, the hotel was finished and passed the final inspection in June 1972.

Concurrently with the construction of the hotel, skiers created new cross-country tracks in the area. Ladislav Slonek together with the FIS Ski association contributed to their creation. Thanks to his language and diplomatic skills, Slonek also made sure the World Cup would have its place in Nové Město. Only a year after the opening of the SKI hotel came another important achievement. The Golden Ski became a part of the FIS race calendar and attracted competition from abroad. The first big sports star racing at the Golden Ski was in 1978 the famous Finn, Juha Mieto.

1981 became an important milestone, as the women 5km race, a part of the World Cup, took place in Nové Město for the first time. Thanks to these events and the then famous Czech sports stars, Blanka Paulů, Květa Jeriová, Dagmar Hromádková and the successful athletes of the beginning of the new millennia, Lukáš Bauer, Kateřina Neumannová and Martin Koukal, cross-country skiing gained more popularity among locals and more fans attended the events. The competition between the best Czech athletes and world-class foreign rivals often attracted more than ten thousand fans, who cheered the racers on from the stands and by the tracks. The organizers of the races also participated in the creation of the Tour de Ski series, which became a part of the World Cup and takes place at the turn of the year. Since 2006, the first three seasons took place in the Vysočina region.

It was the manager, Jiří Hamza, who brought biathlon to Nové Město. At the beginning of the new millennia, the then chief of the Ski club, Petr Honzl, asked Hamza for help in the marketing area concerning financial support for the Golden Ski race. Hamza developed a daring idea which included the construction of a biathlon stadium and actions soon followed. On October 10, 2005, the foundation stone of the new site was laid. The construction of the shooting range, stands, and the four-story administrative building progressed fast. The same was true for the biathlon tracks and tunnels.

The Vysočina Arena debuted in the biathlon competitions in 2007 by hosting an event of the European Cup. A year later, Nové Město hosted the European Championship. Soon after, world-class international events followed. In 2011 it was the Junior World Championship, a year later it was the first event of the World Cup and finally in 2013 Vysočina Arena hosted the World Championship.

Hosting world-class events regularly in the Central European conditions required, also due to current global warming, the necessary snow resources. The race calendar includes also events hosted at the brink of winter, i.e. in early December or in March. Many times, the organizers of the races in Nové Město had to cancel the races due to lack of snow. The problem was solved in late November 2017, when the first snow reservoir in the Czech Republic was built. The massive pit, the size of a football field, 120×90 meters, is located near the stadium, under the Harus hill.

Author: Jiří Pošvář