WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.480 Okay. Take a second. Just listen to that. Listen 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:04.200 to what? I don't really hear anything. Right. 00:00:05.019 --> 00:00:08.400 Precisely. That is the sound of February 25, 00:00:08.859 --> 00:00:12.300 2026. The silence has, well, it's finally returned 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:14.660 to the Valdifieme. The circus has left town. 00:00:14.900 --> 00:00:18.079 Yeah. It's a heavy kind of silence, isn't it? 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:20.179 It really is. Because for the last few weeks, 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:23.949 this valley in northern Italy. specifically that 00:00:23.949 --> 00:00:27.030 little pocket around Pradazzo, has been the absolute 00:00:27.030 --> 00:00:29.870 center of the winter sports universe. The eyes 00:00:29.870 --> 00:00:32.350 of the world, basically. Exactly. We have just 00:00:32.350 --> 00:00:34.649 finished witnessing the massive spectacle of 00:00:34.649 --> 00:00:37.549 the 2026 Winter Olympics. The ski jumpers have 00:00:37.549 --> 00:00:40.289 packed up. The TV trucks are long gone. But we 00:00:40.289 --> 00:00:42.149 are left with the physical structure itself. 00:00:42.490 --> 00:00:44.789 And that structure is exactly our mission for 00:00:44.789 --> 00:00:47.250 this deep dive today. Because we aren't looking 00:00:47.250 --> 00:00:49.270 at the medal counts. Right. We aren't doing a 00:00:49.270 --> 00:00:51.549 highlight reel of the athletes. Well, not primarily. 00:00:58.369 --> 00:01:01.609 Which, honestly, is a completely fascinating 00:01:01.609 --> 00:01:04.469 biography to dig into. Because when you look 00:01:04.469 --> 00:01:07.219 at... Our source material, the historical records 00:01:07.219 --> 00:01:10.739 and the technical specs. This isn't just a slope 00:01:10.739 --> 00:01:13.180 covered in snow. Not at all. It's a structure 00:01:13.180 --> 00:01:15.980 that cost billions of lire to build in the late 00:01:15.980 --> 00:01:19.819 80s. Millions of euros to renovate just recently 00:01:19.819 --> 00:01:23.000 for these specific games. And it has served as 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:27.760 this, I don't know, this strange concrete geopolitical 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:30.439 stage for the last 35 years. It really acts like 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:32.400 a mirror for whatever is happening in Europe 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:34.780 at any given time. Yeah. Transport ourselves 00:01:34.780 --> 00:01:37.640 right there, mentally anyway. You are in Pradazzo, 00:01:37.819 --> 00:01:39.980 nestled right in the Dolomites. They're a Nesco 00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:41.780 World Heritage Site, by the way. Yeah, it is 00:01:41.780 --> 00:01:44.400 stunning. Jagged peaks, the air is super crisp, 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:47.159 probably freezing, actually. And you are standing 00:01:47.159 --> 00:01:49.439 at the base of this massive complex that just 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:51.700 hosted the Olympic ski jumping events from February 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:54.500 7th to the 16th, and the Nordic combined right 00:01:54.500 --> 00:01:56.980 after that. Fresh off the global broadcast. Exactly. 00:01:57.239 --> 00:01:59.099 And this is where I want to start the story. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:01.560 If you were standing in this exact spot back 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:04.810 in, say, 1935, You wouldn't see any ski jumpers 00:02:04.810 --> 00:02:06.829 flying through the air, would you? No, absolutely 00:02:06.829 --> 00:02:09.669 not. If you were a local in the Val di Fiam in 00:02:09.669 --> 00:02:12.610 the 1930s and you wanted to see someone hurl 00:02:12.610 --> 00:02:15.669 themselves into the air on skis, you wouldn't 00:02:15.669 --> 00:02:17.889 go to Prodazzo at all. You had to go way, way 00:02:17.889 --> 00:02:19.610 up. Up the mountain. You'd be hiking up to the 00:02:19.610 --> 00:02:21.490 roll pass. And when we say up, we're talking 00:02:21.490 --> 00:02:24.129 serious altitude here. Oh, yeah. We're talking 00:02:24.129 --> 00:02:29.169 1 ,984 meters above sea level. Wow. Yeah. The 00:02:29.169 --> 00:02:31.729 local clubs, the Fiam Gial and the Dolomitica, 00:02:31.849 --> 00:02:34.250 they managed to jump up there. And you really 00:02:34.250 --> 00:02:36.479 have to picture the sea. There were no modern 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:40.259 elevators, no ceramic tracks, just guys in heavy 00:02:40.259 --> 00:02:43.120 wool sweaters hiking up nearly 2000 meters to 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:45.139 just throw themselves off a mountain pass. It 00:02:45.139 --> 00:02:47.740 sounds so incredibly rugged. I mean, it feels 00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:49.840 like a completely different sport compared to 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:54.020 the highly aerodynamic spandex clad science we 00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:55.979 just watched on TV. It was completely different. 00:02:56.039 --> 00:02:58.479 It was raw. Now, they did modernize it a little 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:01.139 bit in 1973. It hosted some Alpencup events. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:04.219 But by the late 80s, the sport was professionalizing 00:03:04.219 --> 00:03:06.860 rapidly. It was becoming a TV spectacle. Right. 00:03:06.939 --> 00:03:09.319 And the International Ski Federation, the FIS, 00:03:09.580 --> 00:03:12.300 they looked at that roll pass setup. which was 00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:15.639 just a K -65 hill, and basically said, this is 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:18.280 charming, but it's entirely obsolete. They needed 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:20.780 something permanent, something closer to actual 00:03:20.780 --> 00:03:22.960 civilization. And the real catalyst for moving 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:25.659 down from that mountain pass wasn't just a sudden 00:03:25.659 --> 00:03:28.580 desire for comfort. It was a very specific meeting 00:03:28.580 --> 00:03:32.099 in Istanbul in 1988. That is the turning point, 00:03:32.180 --> 00:03:34.560 yes. That is where the committee officially awarded 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:37.840 the 1991 Nordic World Ski Championships to the 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:40.599 Trentino region. Once they secured that bid, 00:03:41.099 --> 00:03:42.919 The clock was ticking. They had to build something 00:03:42.919 --> 00:03:45.240 worthy. They knew the old roll pass jump wasn't 00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:47.599 going to cut it for a global broadcast. They 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:50.360 needed a flagship venue. So the Jeppe Dahl Ben 00:03:50.360 --> 00:03:53.580 Arena was born. It was inaugurated in 1989. And 00:03:53.580 --> 00:03:55.319 I was looking at the financial records for this 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:57.479 original construction in our sources. The number 00:03:57.479 --> 00:04:00.419 is just staggering. 14 .5 billion lire. It sounds 00:04:00.419 --> 00:04:02.319 like fantasy money to modern ears, doesn't it? 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:04.819 It really does. But what stuck out to me even 00:04:04.819 --> 00:04:07.979 more was who actually paid for it. This wasn't 00:04:07.979 --> 00:04:10.419 some private sports enterprise. It was fully 00:04:10.419 --> 00:04:12.620 funded by the autonomous province of Trento. 00:04:12.659 --> 00:04:15.020 Which is a massive statement of intent from the 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:17.199 local government. You have to understand that 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:19.959 in 1989, this facility was considered highly 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:22.670 avant -garde. That was the exact word used in 00:04:22.670 --> 00:04:25.029 the press. The province wasn't just building 00:04:25.029 --> 00:04:26.889 a hill for a weekend event. Right, they were 00:04:26.889 --> 00:04:28.829 building a legacy. Exactly. They were trying 00:04:28.829 --> 00:04:31.689 to future -proof the sport in Italy. They were 00:04:31.689 --> 00:04:34.149 building a stadium meant to define the entire 00:04:34.149 --> 00:04:37.389 region for decades. And it did define the region. 00:04:37.709 --> 00:04:40.149 Almost immediately. This is the part of the deep 00:04:40.149 --> 00:04:42.350 dive that really hooked me. We usually think 00:04:42.350 --> 00:04:45.819 of stadiums as just concrete and steel. Static 00:04:45.819 --> 00:04:48.720 objects. Just a backdrop. Exactly. But this arena, 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:51.540 specifically during that very first major event, 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:55.750 the 1991 World Championships, it... acted like 00:04:55.750 --> 00:04:58.110 a literal time capsule. It really is one of those 00:04:58.110 --> 00:05:01.410 incredibly rare moments where sport and geopolitics 00:05:01.410 --> 00:05:04.110 collide head on. If you look at the results sheet 00:05:04.110 --> 00:05:06.829 from 1991 held right here at this brand new arena, 00:05:06.990 --> 00:05:09.670 you aren't just seeing names and jump distances. 00:05:10.009 --> 00:05:12.269 You are looking at a map of a Europe that was 00:05:12.269 --> 00:05:14.949 violently changing shape. So let's unpack that 00:05:14.949 --> 00:05:16.649 for everyone listening, because the specific 00:05:16.649 --> 00:05:19.269 stories are just incredible. Who are the ghosts 00:05:19.269 --> 00:05:22.550 of 1991? Well, there are two distinct narratives 00:05:22.550 --> 00:05:24.730 that played out right there on that podium. First, 00:05:24.829 --> 00:05:27.129 you have Franci Pitek. He wins a medal at that 00:05:27.129 --> 00:05:29.550 event. But look at the flag next to his name 00:05:29.550 --> 00:05:32.269 in the historical record. Yugoslavia. And that 00:05:32.269 --> 00:05:34.329 is deeply significant because of the timing. 00:05:34.470 --> 00:05:36.569 It's incredibly tragic timing. It was effectively 00:05:36.569 --> 00:05:39.129 the last time. Shortly after Pitek stood on that 00:05:39.129 --> 00:05:42.129 podium in Pradaco, Yugoslavia dissolved into 00:05:42.129 --> 00:05:45.629 a brutal war. Wow. Yeah, that medal was basically 00:05:45.629 --> 00:05:48.050 the final sporting breath of a dying nation. 00:05:48.370 --> 00:05:51.790 The stadium was brand new, gleaming white concrete, 00:05:52.029 --> 00:05:54.370 but it was hosting the funeral of a country. 00:05:54.939 --> 00:05:56.980 We are simply conveying the historical reality 00:05:56.980 --> 00:05:59.240 of the event, but it's a very heavy piece of 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:01.459 trivia. It is a really heavy image. And then 00:06:01.459 --> 00:06:04.480 in the exact same competition, almost like a 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:07.360 counterweight to that story, you have Jens Weisblog. 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:10.519 The absolute legend, Jens Weisblog. In that same 00:06:10.519 --> 00:06:13.680 1991 competition, he wins an individual medal 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:16.019 for Germany. Now, pay close attention to the 00:06:16.019 --> 00:06:18.860 nuance here. Not East Germany, not West Germany, 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:21.560 just Germany. This is the reunification. Exactly. 00:06:21.819 --> 00:06:24.439 This was the very first time a German athlete 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:27.379 had won an individual medal after the reunification 00:06:27.379 --> 00:06:30.560 of East and West. So in one single afternoon 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:33.560 on this one hill in Italy, you have the death 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:36.939 of Yugoslavia and the rebirth of a unified Germany 00:06:36.939 --> 00:06:40.360 playing out in real time. It's fascinating. You're 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:42.759 sitting in the stands, maybe drinking a hot tea, 00:06:42.899 --> 00:06:45.480 watching guys jump. And you're actually watching 00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:48.519 the borders of Europe getting redrawn. That is 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:50.930 exactly what makes this venue so special it has 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:53.399 these ghosts built into the very foundation. 00:06:53.860 --> 00:06:56.800 But of course, ghosts don't host the 2026 Olympics. 00:06:56.860 --> 00:06:59.060 You need cutting edge hardware for that. And 00:06:59.060 --> 00:07:01.420 that brings us to the actual anatomy of the place. 00:07:01.540 --> 00:07:03.360 Right. Let's get technical because we've been 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:05.860 calling it the arena, but it's a massive complex, 00:07:06.139 --> 00:07:09.240 3 ,000 square meters in total. And for the listeners 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:11.240 who may be tuned into the Olympics just for the 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:13.180 vibes and didn't catch the technical jargon, 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:15.620 we need to break down the hills. We definitely 00:07:15.620 --> 00:07:17.860 do. It's a two hill setup primarily. You have 00:07:17.860 --> 00:07:19.720 the long trampoline and the normal trampoline. 00:07:19.860 --> 00:07:21.850 I always laugh at the term normal. trampoline 00:07:21.850 --> 00:07:24.029 it sounds so casual like i'm just gonna go jump 00:07:24.029 --> 00:07:26.269 the length of a football field today just normal 00:07:26.269 --> 00:07:28.829 stuff well everything is relative in ski jumping 00:07:28.829 --> 00:07:31.689 compared to the absolute monster next to it i 00:07:31.689 --> 00:07:33.949 guess it feels normal so the long trampoline 00:07:33.949 --> 00:07:37.389 is classified as an hs -136 okay let's pause 00:07:37.389 --> 00:07:40.009 there for a second HS. We saw this graphic on 00:07:40.009 --> 00:07:42.170 the screen constantly during the games this month. 00:07:42.370 --> 00:07:44.649 HS versus pay point. I think a lot of people 00:07:44.649 --> 00:07:46.529 treat them as the exact same thing, but they 00:07:46.529 --> 00:07:48.970 are very different. Very different. Think of 00:07:48.970 --> 00:07:51.949 the K point, which is 120 meters on this big 00:07:51.949 --> 00:07:55.529 hill as the par for the course. It's the construction 00:07:55.529 --> 00:07:58.629 point. It's the primary target. If you land perfectly 00:07:58.629 --> 00:08:01.709 on the K line, you get 60 distance points. It's 00:08:01.709 --> 00:08:04.149 where the hill is geometrically designed for 00:08:04.149 --> 00:08:07.430 a perfect safe landing. HS stands for hills. 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:11.339 Here it's 136 meters. That is effectively the 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:13.000 safety limit of the structure. It's the point 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:14.879 where the slope of the landing hill starts to 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:17.019 flatten out significantly. So K point is the 00:08:17.019 --> 00:08:21.060 goal and HS is the danger zone. Precisely. If 00:08:21.060 --> 00:08:23.980 you jump past the HS, the physical forces on 00:08:23.980 --> 00:08:26.319 your landing become exponential because you're 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:28.839 effectively dropping onto flat ground from three 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:31.540 stories up in the air. Your knees simply can't 00:08:31.540 --> 00:08:33.820 take the impact. That makes a lot of sense. So 00:08:33.820 --> 00:08:35.779 when we see that red line on the TV broadcast, 00:08:36.139 --> 00:08:39.000 that's usually the HS. Right. And on the normal 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:42.799 hill, the HS is 104 meters with a K -point of 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:46.179 95. A fun little detail for the true nerds out 00:08:46.179 --> 00:08:49.139 there, it was actually classified as an HS -106. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:52.480 until 2017, but the FIS adjusted the measurement 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:55.139 rules slightly. They're always tweaking the numbers. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:57.159 Yeah. Now, there is one feature of the Giuseppe 00:08:57.159 --> 00:08:59.059 d 'Alben Arena that I found really interesting 00:08:59.059 --> 00:09:01.399 in our source material, especially since we literally 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:03.779 just watched at Winter Olympics, the surface 00:09:03.779 --> 00:09:06.860 itself. Ah, yes. The ceramic tracks. Because 00:09:06.860 --> 00:09:08.940 you'd naturally assume a ski jump is completely 00:09:08.940 --> 00:09:11.360 useless without snow, but that's not the case 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:13.759 here at all. Not at all. And that was a crucial 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:16.580 part of its avant -garde design back in the 80s, 00:09:16.580 --> 00:09:20.279 and even more so now. The in -run tracks, the 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:22.860 grooves, the skiers slide down before they hit 00:09:22.860 --> 00:09:25.340 the takeoff, are made of a highly specialized 00:09:25.340 --> 00:09:28.700 ceramic material. And the landing hill is covered 00:09:28.700 --> 00:09:30.980 in these interlocking plastic mats that mimic 00:09:30.980 --> 00:09:33.740 the exact friction of snow. Which means the entire 00:09:33.740 --> 00:09:35.940 facility doesn't just shut down in March when 00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:38.399 things thaw. Exactly. They can operate 12 months 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:40.960 a year. Athletes can train in July just as easily 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:43.539 as they do in February. In fact, Summer Grand 00:09:43.539 --> 00:09:45.940 Prix ski jumping is a huge part of the sports 00:09:45.940 --> 00:09:48.440 calendar now. That feels like a massive competitive 00:09:48.440 --> 00:09:51.799 advantage. If you own the facility, your local 00:09:51.799 --> 00:09:53.720 athletes aren't flying around the globe chasing 00:09:53.720 --> 00:09:56.320 winter just to get reps in. They are just driving 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:58.850 down the road to Pradaso. It creates a perfectly 00:09:58.850 --> 00:10:01.049 consistent training environment. You aren't worried 00:10:01.049 --> 00:10:03.730 about melting tracks or soft slush on the landing. 00:10:03.909 --> 00:10:06.649 The ceramic is identical every single time you 00:10:06.649 --> 00:10:09.450 sit on the bar. That kind of consistency builds 00:10:09.450 --> 00:10:11.970 champions. Speaking of building champions, I 00:10:11.970 --> 00:10:13.509 was looking at the list of the other hills in 00:10:13.509 --> 00:10:15.830 the complex. Because it's not just the two big 00:10:15.830 --> 00:10:18.299 Olympic ones we saw on TV. No, you can't just 00:10:18.299 --> 00:10:19.940 strap a pair of skis on a six -year -old and 00:10:19.940 --> 00:10:22.399 push them off the HS -136. That would be... Completely 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.299 terrifying. Terrifying and probably illegal. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:26.700 So they have what they call the school jumps. 00:10:26.899 --> 00:10:29.879 This is the Stalliman area. There's a K -60, 00:10:30.100 --> 00:10:33.379 an HS -35, an HS -20, and the Baby Hill, which 00:10:33.379 --> 00:10:37.200 is an HS -16. It's an entire ecosystem. You enter 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:40.000 the sport as a little kid on the HS -16, and 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.740 hopefully 15 years later, you're flying off the 00:10:42.740 --> 00:10:44.679 big one. There's one other connection in the 00:10:44.679 --> 00:10:46.860 building that I absolutely loved finding in the... 00:10:46.860 --> 00:10:50.269 research. It involves the Marciolonga. The legendary 00:10:50.269 --> 00:10:52.909 cross -country race. Yes. So for those who don't 00:10:52.909 --> 00:10:54.730 follow it, the Marsalonga is this incredibly 00:10:54.730 --> 00:10:57.809 grueling 70 -kilometer cross -country ski race. 00:10:58.009 --> 00:11:00.529 And the organizers are actually headquartered 00:11:00.529 --> 00:11:03.350 directly inside the ski jumping stadium building. 00:11:03.490 --> 00:11:06.110 And the race course physically passes straight 00:11:06.110 --> 00:11:08.750 through the arena every single January. That 00:11:08.750 --> 00:11:10.450 is just such a cool visual to me. You have the 00:11:10.450 --> 00:11:12.409 ski jumpers flying high overhead, the sprinters 00:11:12.409 --> 00:11:14.610 of the sky, and right underneath them you have 00:11:14.610 --> 00:11:17.009 thousands of cross -country skiers grinding out 00:11:17.009 --> 00:11:20.570 70 kilometers. physically connects the two vastly 00:11:20.570 --> 00:11:23.049 different worlds of Nordic skiing in one space. 00:11:23.330 --> 00:11:25.690 It anchors the stadium in the local community, 00:11:25.830 --> 00:11:28.389 too. It's not just some scary elite tower on 00:11:28.389 --> 00:11:30.350 a hill that only the pros are allowed to use. 00:11:30.509 --> 00:11:33.250 It's a central hub for the biggest sporting event 00:11:33.250 --> 00:11:36.730 in the valley. But hubs age over time. Concrete 00:11:36.730 --> 00:11:40.659 cracks. Technology moves on. And 1989 was a long 00:11:40.659 --> 00:11:43.240 time ago. It was. And when the IOC came knocking 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:46.399 to award the 2026 Games, the region knew they 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:48.639 couldn't just slap a fresh coat of paint on 30 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:51.740 -year -old technology. You cannot host a modern, 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:55.100 high -definition Olympics with 1991 infrastructure. 00:11:55.460 --> 00:11:57.139 So they had to get out the checkbook again. They 00:11:57.139 --> 00:11:59.799 certainly did. In the fall of 2022, they started 00:11:59.799 --> 00:12:02.620 a massive renovation project to prepare for what 00:12:02.620 --> 00:12:04.940 we just watched. The final cost was approximately 00:12:04.940 --> 00:12:08.360 36 million euros. That is a serious facelift. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:10.960 I mean, 14 .5 billion layer in the 80s was a 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:13.779 lot. But 36 million euros today is a massive 00:12:13.779 --> 00:12:16.139 public investment. What exactly do you get for 00:12:16.139 --> 00:12:18.639 that kind of money? You get a completely modernized, 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:21.159 state -of -the -art venue. They reprofiled both 00:12:21.159 --> 00:12:23.779 of the main jumps to perfectly match modern aerodynamic 00:12:23.779 --> 00:12:25.879 flight standards. They rebuilt the spectator 00:12:25.879 --> 00:12:27.980 stands. They built a brand new judges tower. 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:31.059 But the lighting, that was a major key line item. 00:12:31.299 --> 00:12:33.980 Because of the TV broadcast. TV demands absolute 00:12:33.980 --> 00:12:36.259 perfection. The night events we just watched, 00:12:36.419 --> 00:12:39.100 those dramatic, gorgeous shots of the jumpers 00:12:39.100 --> 00:12:41.840 launching into the pitch black. sky illuminated 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:45.360 perfectly. That is all thanks to the new lighting 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:48.700 array. It has to be completely flicker free for 00:12:48.700 --> 00:12:51.799 the high definition slow motion cameras. But 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:53.860 there was one specific upgrade that caught my 00:12:53.860 --> 00:12:57.899 eye in the specs. Seems like a tiny detail, but 00:12:57.899 --> 00:12:59.700 I bet the athletes care about it more than anything 00:12:59.700 --> 00:13:02.679 else. They replaced the old chairlift. Yes, with 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:05.639 a fully enclosed inclined elevator. Now, to the 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:07.639 average person listening, that might just sound 00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:09.419 like a luxury or the athletes don't want to sit 00:13:09.419 --> 00:13:12.230 on a cold chairlift. But there is a real physiological 00:13:12.230 --> 00:13:14.789 reason for this, isn't there? It is purely about 00:13:14.789 --> 00:13:17.309 athletic performance. Think about the old setup 00:13:17.309 --> 00:13:20.370 for a second. You are a jumper in a paper -thin, 00:13:20.370 --> 00:13:23.549 highly aerodynamic suit. It's minus 10 degrees 00:13:23.549 --> 00:13:26.929 outside. You have to sit on a slow open -air 00:13:26.929 --> 00:13:29.509 chairlift for 10 or 15 minutes just to get to 00:13:29.509 --> 00:13:31.389 the top of the tower. What happens to your body? 00:13:31.549 --> 00:13:33.730 You completely freeze. Your muscles just tighten 00:13:33.730 --> 00:13:37.179 up. Exactly. Your core body temperature drops 00:13:37.179 --> 00:13:40.360 significantly. You lose all that explosive elasticity 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:43.580 you desperately need for the takeoff. An inclined 00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:46.700 elevator is a warm, enclosed cabin. It gets you 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:48.919 to the top much faster. You stay loose. You stay 00:13:48.919 --> 00:13:53.279 entirely focused. 36 million euros buys you shiny 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:56.379 infrastructure, sure. But that specific elevator 00:13:56.379 --> 00:13:59.299 upgrade buys you measurably better athletic performance. 00:13:59.740 --> 00:14:02.940 And clearly, the performance was there. The venue 00:14:02.940 --> 00:14:05.059 held up beautifully for the Games this month. 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:07.440 It really did. It has now officially cemented 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:09.759 itself as an Olympic legend, joining the ranks 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:12.120 of historic places like Littlehammer and Nagano. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:14.279 Now, we cannot talk about a ski jumping arena 00:14:14.279 --> 00:14:15.860 without talking about the Kings of the Hill. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:17.860 We need to talk about the records. We do. And 00:14:17.860 --> 00:14:19.519 the record books here are really interesting 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:22.559 to parse through because you have distinct eras. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:25.379 You have the before 2026 era and the right now 00:14:25.379 --> 00:14:27.539 era. Let's start with the legends from the past. 00:14:27.659 --> 00:14:30.440 Who owned this hill before this month? For a 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:33.039 very long time, the name to beat was Adam Małdżas, 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:35.919 the Polish eagle. Oh man, if you followed winter 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:38.019 sports in the early 2000s, you couldn't escape 00:14:38.019 --> 00:14:40.519 him. He was everywhere. He was a total phenomenon. 00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:43.419 In the 2003 World Championships, which were held 00:14:43.419 --> 00:14:46.519 right here in Pradazzo, he was completely untouchable. 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:48.820 He set official records on both of the hills. 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:53.000 He jumped 136 meters on the large hill and 107 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:56.899 .5 meters on the normal hill. And that 136 -meter 00:14:56.899 --> 00:14:59.200 record on the big hill stood for a remarkably 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:02.919 long time. It did. Roshu Kobayashi, the Japanese 00:15:02.919 --> 00:15:06.039 superstar, managed to equal it in 2019 during 00:15:06.039 --> 00:15:08.879 a World Cup event. But Marsh's shadow basically 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:12.679 loomed over Pradazzo for two full decades. But 00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:14.460 there is always an asterisk when it comes to 00:15:14.460 --> 00:15:16.340 ski jumping records, isn't there? The unofficial 00:15:16.340 --> 00:15:18.879 jumps? Because I saw some numbers in the research 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:21.899 that were way, way bigger than 136. There are 00:15:21.899 --> 00:15:23.679 always bigger jumps hiding in the footnotes. 00:15:23.740 --> 00:15:25.840 You have the Nordic combined athletes or training 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:27.620 rounds where the judges might set the starting 00:15:27.620 --> 00:15:30.080 gate a bit higher. For example, Eric Frenzel 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:33.820 jumped 138 .5 meters in 2013. And Samuel Costa 00:15:33.820 --> 00:15:37.159 in 2016 flew a massive 142 meters in a Nordic 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:40.759 combined event. 142 meters. That completely crushes 00:15:40.759 --> 00:15:42.429 the Mausch's record. Wasn't that the headline 00:15:42.429 --> 00:15:45.110 record on the TV graphic? Because the FIS is 00:15:45.110 --> 00:15:47.929 highly particular about their bureaucracy, official 00:15:47.929 --> 00:15:50.110 Hill records generally only count if they happen 00:15:50.110 --> 00:15:52.809 in a specific top tier of competition, usually 00:15:52.809 --> 00:15:55.950 a pure ski jumping World Cup or an Olympic event, 00:15:56.049 --> 00:15:58.309 and usually only if the jumper stands up the 00:15:58.309 --> 00:16:00.909 landing and doesn't crash. Training jumps or 00:16:00.909 --> 00:16:03.049 combined events often just get relegated to the 00:16:03.049 --> 00:16:05.309 unofficial list. Bureaucracy and gravity. I love 00:16:05.309 --> 00:16:08.009 it. But all of those footnotes and all of those 00:16:08.009 --> 00:16:10.529 old official records, they just became completely 00:16:10.529 --> 00:16:13.039 irrelevant. They really did. Because we have 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:15.580 a brand new king. This is the headline for the 00:16:15.580 --> 00:16:20.039 deep dive today. Yeah. February 2026. The Olympics. 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:22.559 Dome and Preview. Just a few days ago. Dome and 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:26.440 Preview. Absolutely uncorked one. 141 .5 meters. 00:16:26.779 --> 00:16:30.200 Official competition. Official record. 141 .5 00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:31.440 meters. I was trying to visualize that earlier 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:34.019 today. It is immense. It's nearly one and a half 00:16:34.019 --> 00:16:36.340 standard football fields. Imagine jumping from 00:16:36.340 --> 00:16:38.980 one goal line, flying over the entire field and 00:16:38.980 --> 00:16:41.240 landing halfway down the next field without an 00:16:41.240 --> 00:16:43.740 engine. It is basically falling with style for 00:16:43.740 --> 00:16:46.159 seven or eight seconds straight. And doing it 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:49.759 with absolute perfect control, that jump completely 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:53.740 resets the standard for this facility. The Mayuse 00:16:53.740 --> 00:16:56.620 era is officially over. We are firmly in the 00:16:56.620 --> 00:16:59.279 Prevec era now. And we definitely shouldn't forget 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:00.980 the women's record on the Normal Hill because 00:17:00.980 --> 00:17:03.320 that one has held remarkably strong for a while. 00:17:03.460 --> 00:17:06.380 Absolutely. Sarah Hendrickson. She jumped 108 00:17:06.380 --> 00:17:10.500 point blitos meters back in 2012. That actually 00:17:10.500 --> 00:17:12.680 stayed as a women's world record for a time. 00:17:12.980 --> 00:17:15.500 It highlights that this venue has been a prominent 00:17:15.500 --> 00:17:18.099 stage for the absolute best in the world, regardless 00:17:18.099 --> 00:17:21.460 of gender, for decades now. So when you zoom 00:17:21.460 --> 00:17:23.509 out and look at the whole picture. We have gone 00:17:23.509 --> 00:17:26.950 from guys hiking up Roll Pass in wool sweaters 00:17:26.950 --> 00:17:30.809 in the 1930s. To a 14 .5 billion lire concrete 00:17:30.809 --> 00:17:34.029 statement piece in the 90s. To this 36 million 00:17:34.029 --> 00:17:37.150 euro elevator equipped ceramic tracked spaceship 00:17:37.150 --> 00:17:39.609 that we just saw on global television. It is 00:17:39.609 --> 00:17:41.930 a truly remarkable evolution. And I think that 00:17:41.930 --> 00:17:43.990 is the key takeaway for you to think about. We 00:17:43.990 --> 00:17:45.769 often think of mountains and stadiums as these 00:17:45.769 --> 00:17:48.390 permanent, unchangeable things. But the way we 00:17:48.390 --> 00:17:50.190 interact with them is constantly shifting. The 00:17:50.190 --> 00:17:52.069 Roll Pass jump died because. It couldn't adapt. 00:17:52.269 --> 00:17:53.950 It couldn't handle the demands of a new world 00:17:53.950 --> 00:17:56.829 of sport. But the Giuseppe Dolben Arena survived. 00:17:57.230 --> 00:17:59.650 It survived because it reinvented itself. It 00:17:59.650 --> 00:18:02.529 went from a geopolitical stage for a dying Yugoslavia 00:18:02.529 --> 00:18:06.569 in 1991 to a high -tech Olympic venue in 2026. 00:18:07.109 --> 00:18:09.789 It adapted to survive. And that leaves us with 00:18:09.789 --> 00:18:11.950 our final thought for you today. Something to 00:18:11.950 --> 00:18:14.680 mull over. When Dmytrovych was up in the air 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:18.640 for that 141 .5 -meter jump this month, he wasn't 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.319 just flying over snow and plastic mats. He was 00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:24.279 flying over the ghosts of 1991. He was flying 00:18:24.279 --> 00:18:26.579 over the invisible lines of old European borders 00:18:26.579 --> 00:18:29.559 and the long legacy of Adamass. And he was setting 00:18:29.559 --> 00:18:32.119 the bar for whatever comes next. Right. It makes 00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:35.289 you wonder. 30 years from now, will they be renovating 00:18:35.289 --> 00:18:37.670 this massive complex again? Will someone be jumping 00:18:37.670 --> 00:18:40.869 155 meters? Or will this place eventually become 00:18:40.869 --> 00:18:43.549 another ghost venue like Roll Pass, just quiet 00:18:43.549 --> 00:18:45.970 and overgrown in the mountains? Only time and 00:18:45.970 --> 00:18:47.549 gravity will tell. Well, for now, the lights 00:18:47.549 --> 00:18:50.549 are off in Prodanso. The silence is back. But 00:18:50.549 --> 00:18:52.609 what an incredible show it was. Thank you for 00:18:52.609 --> 00:18:54.490 taking this deep dive with us today. Always a 00:18:54.490 --> 00:18:54.670 pleasure.