The Croatian capital of Zagreb has turned into one big ski platform
Besides amazing Adriatic Sea, Croatia also offers a magnificent surrounding for all ski lovers in the first week of January.
The organisers of the 11th Snow Queen ski race have prepared a 165-metre-long ski slope for FIS Alpine Ski World Cup winners race on Wednesday, 5th January, in the Zagreb city centre.
This exhibition ski race, a part of the FIS Ski World Cup event – the Vip Snow Queen Trophy, was truly a special race, passing by unique Zagreb landmarks and was held for the 11th time in a row in Zagreb. The race started on Toma Bakač street, passing Zagreb’s famous cathedral before finishing at the famous Manduševac fountain on the main Ban Josip Jelačić square.
The Snow Queen Trophy, World Cup Alpine Ski Race is named in honour of the famous Croatian skier Janica Kostelić, six times Olympic Medallist and the race usually takes place in Medvednica, at its highest peak Sljeme at 1,035 metres (3,396 ft), 10 minutes from the capital city of Zagreb.
For this special jubilee – 50 years of the world cup and for the promotion of the Croatian capital, they created this beautiful ski slope in the middle of the city, since Zagreb is the only capital hosting a FIS Alpine Ski World Cup race this year.
Numerous trucks brought more than 1000 cubic metres of snow to get a 40-cm snow cover, all to welcome 18 skiing champions, including Croatia’s siblings Janica and Ivica Kostelič, the first World Cups winners, Jean-Claude Killy and Karl Schranz, and many other winner skiers, from Annemarie Moser-Proell, Marc Girardelli, Marcel Hirscher, Alberto Tomba, Andreas Wnzel, Tamara McKinney, Pernilla Wiberg, Jure Košir, Matjaz Vrhovnik, Hans Enn, Bojan Križaj, Gunther Mader, Marco Buechel, Kristian Ghedina, Thomas Sykora, Špela Pretnar, Ušska Hrovat, Alenka Dovžan and Slovenian Olympic medallist Tina Maze who announced last year that this is going to be one of her last races.
