Alpine Skiing in Slovenia

“Anyone who doesn’t ski isn’t a Slovene!” is a saying that could recently be heard all across the country on the sunny side of the Alps, where skiing has long been a part of life, as evidenced by the description of skiers from the Bloke plateau traversing snow-covered slopes that can be found in Johann Weikhard Valvasor’s 1689 work The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola. Slovenia has a skiing tradition dating back more than 300 years – making it one of the longest in Europe.

The twentieth century saw skiing become accessible to the masses and witnessed the start of an enthusiastic fan culture in winter sports. This can really be said to have begun when Jure Franko won Yugoslavia’s first ever Winter Olympic medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. The most recent of Slovenia’s total nine Olympic medals in alpine skiing were won by Tina Maze in Sochi in 2014. Slovenia is far from being a midget in a world of giants when it comes to alpine skiing, with Slovene competitors having won a total of 23 medals at World Championships to date. This means that skiing enthusiasts have no shortage of opportunities or occasions to cheer on the country’s bold skiers, who demonstrate their undisputed talents as they race through the gates at the world’s biggest sporting competitions. The fans’ enthusiasm reaches its peak at the two World Cupcompetitions that are traditionally held in Slovenia each winter. The men’s Vitranc Cup competition and the women’s Golden Fox competition (soon to be renamed) draw large crowds, who fill the stands below the finish area, cheering and waving flags, proud that skiing is at home in Slovenia.