Prominent Personalities - Janez Polda

Prominent Personalities

Janez Polda – Centenary of his birth

As a young boy, Janez Polda attended the elementary school in Mojstrana. His teacher was Minca Rabič, a former national women’s cross-country skiing champion. Realising that the young Janez had a natural gift for skiing, she gave him a pair of skis. Polda’s true love was jumping and after the Second World War he became Slovenia’s finest ski jumper.

In 1948 the world-famous ski jumping venue Planica, where Rožman had built the world’s first ski flying hill back in 1934, witnessed a unique event on Bloudek’s reconstructed 120-metre flying hill. Janez Polda flew 120 metres, the longest ski jump in the world to date. The International Ski Federation did not recognise world records at that time, only the longest jumps on individual ski jumps and flying hills. Unfortunately Polda touched the snow with his hands on landing and his jump was declared invalid.

In 1948 Janez Polda made ski jumping and ski flying history as a technical innovator when he became the first to jump in Planica with his arms behind his body. He explained his reasons for this choice in an entry in his diary: “No bird has its wings in front!” Polda’s jumping technique was adopted by ski jumpers all over the world.

After retiring from competitive jumping, Polda became a member of the Planica Organising Committee. He was given the responsible job of take-off area marshall. His job was to stand in the take-off area and wave a flag to indicate that the flying hill was clear for the next jumper.

Polda competed in three Winter Olympic Games, finishing 41^st in St Moritz in 1948, 16^th in Oslo in 1952 and 24^th in Cortina d’Ampezzo in 1956. He was national ski jumping champion six times: in 1948 and then from 1951 to 1955.

Aleš Guček