FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009

The host of the 2009 World championships was awarded at the 2004 FIS Congress in Miami, Florida, USA on 3 June 2004.[10] The opposing candidate city to Liberec was Oslo, Norway. Norwegian Ski President Sverre Seeberg stated to the Norwegian press before the voting started that he "thought it would be a close call, but not as close for FIS President Kasper to use his deciding vote." The fact this was the fourth time in a row that Liberec applied for the championships, and that it was almost 40 years since it last was arranged in Eastern Europe (1970 in Vysoké Tatry, Czechoslovakia) might give Liberec an advantage, according to Seeberg.[11]

Liberec was selected 11–4 over Oslo, and since there were 17 FIS members, Kasper did not vote. Seeberg was ineligible to vote, even though he served in place of the late Jan Jensen. The Oslo committee quickly announced after the loss that they would apply for the 2011 championships, which they got awarded two years later.[12]

Prior to being awarded the World championships in 2004, Liberec had hosted a total of 40 cross country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping competitions though it had not hosted a cross country World Cup event by June 2005.[10] At a 24–25 May 2005 meeting, a report was given by the Liberec committee to the FIS race directors on course inspection, including layout of the courses.[10] On 10 May 2006, a coordination group meeting was held led by Roman Kumpošt, the first organizing committee chair, regarding venue construction, television production, and construction within Liberec itself in preparation for the championships.[13] A coordination meeting took place in Liberec 18–19 April 2007 to discuss venue information and event preparation.[14]

Czech cross country skier and six-time Winter Olympic medalist Kateřina Neumannová was originally an honorary vice president of the organizing committee. On 25 July 2007, Neumannová was appointed as the new president of the organizing committee as approved by the organizing committee, replacing Kumpošt. She also served as a World Cup organizer for the second of the Tour de Ski events that took place in Prague on 30 December 2007.[15] During the week of 13 August 2007, a delegation visited the FIS headquarters in Oberhofen, Switzerland and met with FIS President Kasper. This delegation included Liberec Mayor Jiří Kittner, Organizing Committee Secretary Marek Rejman, Czech Ski Association President Lukáš Sobotka, and its General Secretary Norbert Pelc, and all four confirmed the work toward the sites used for the championships were proceeding as planned with test events that occurred in February 2008. Financing issues for the event were also clarified. The next scheduled update occurred at the FIS Autumn Meeting in Zurich during the week of 24 September 2007.[16][17] Progress was given by Organizing President Neumannová and Executive Director Marek Rejman while at Zurich, including updates on the venues (shown in the next section), and focused on the sports organization (including the technical directors); and the marketing and promotion of the test events. Liberec had also confirmed their support of the governmental financing for the university campus which served as the village for the teams in 2009.[17]

FIS President Kasper stated that the first test weekend of 8–9 February 2008 "went well" in terms of sports organization.[18] Kasper also expressed concerns about the cost for accommodation for skiing officials and media for the upcoming events.[18] A spring coordination meeting was held the week of 7 April 2008 that discussed preparations for the event.[19] Among the participants were FIS, the EBU, and marketing partner APF, whom focused on lessons learned from the test events held in February 2008.[19] Coordination group members were pleased in what transpired during the February 2008 test events, including an athletes village that was constructed at the local university.[19] Final competition schedule was confirmed by the FIS Council in its May 2008 meeting in Cape Town, followed by a final inspection on 13 October 2008.[19] Following the final inspection that day, a six-hour press conference was held on the status of preparations.[20] Detailed reports were given on the test events held in February 2008 and the lessons learned from them.[20] FIS President Kasper expressed his support of the organizing committee's efforts to present the best championships ever.[20] Neumannová stated that the cross country skiing facility at Vesec was ready while the ski jumping facility at Ještěd was ready in the fall once construction of the access road and surrounding area was complete.[20] The main concern of Neumannová's was the weather given the problems with the test events in February and the need for snow making equipment.[20] The Czech government gave the organizing committee an additional CZK 189 million (€ 7.3 million) in financial support.[21] At the end of 2008, the championships were the biggest sports event in the history of the Czech Republic.[21] On 16 December 2008, FIS Secretary General Lewis, FIS Event and Sponsor Manager Niklas Carlsson, Neumannová, and other key Organizing Committee staff met to discuss promotional activities for the event, including ceremonies, social events, and the accreditation system.[22] That same day, an entire inspection of the team village took place at the Technical University of Liberec where the entire complex was renovated.[22] The students at the university left at the end of January 2009 for the teams to arrive on campus in mid-February.[22]

As of 21 January 2009, there were a total of 600 competitors from 59 nations, both Championship records.[23] Neumannová stated that the area had about 70 centimetres (28 in) of snow at both testing areas.[23] She also stated that Czech representatives had tested both Ještěd and Vesec and were satisfied with both areas.[23] Free public transportation in Liberec and tram transfers from the neighboring town of Jablonec nad Nisou were organized.[23] Doping programs that were successful at the previous World Championships in Sapporo continued with 78 EPO and 430 blood testing on athletes in 1–15 February period prior to the 2009 championships.[24] 450 pre-competition blood tests were conducted with the top four finishers plus two randomly selected athletes of each event, totalling 120 for the championships.[24] These tests were conducted by the Czech National Anti-Doping Agency with assistance of the World Anti-Doping Agency.[24] Testing costs for the program were CHF 1.5 million.[24] As of 25 February, a total of 90,000 spectators had attended the championships.[25] Prior to the championships, there was concern of the lack of snowfall during the championships.[25] During the championships, there was continuing snowfall.[25] On 23 February, Czech Republic Senate Parliament chair Přemysl Sobotka presented FIS President Kasper with a silver commemorative medal of the Senate for his merits in the development of world skiing.[25] Kasper lead the FIS delegation to this ceremony that took place in Liberec with Sobotka which included FIS officials and representative of all 61 teams.[25] Included in this delegation were Milan Jirasek, FIS Council Member and Chair of the Czech Olympic Committee, and Neumannová[25]

Media accreditation was available online until 17 October 2008.[26] Television coverage was provided by Czech Television (CT), the host broadcaster.[27] CT expected to produce over 60 hours of international coverage with a total of 54 TV cameras connected to 60 kilometres (37 mi) of cables.[27] Over 1500 international media were onsite for the event.[28] A total of 771 cumulative broadcast hours took place during the championship event, 70.3% shown live with the rest being tape-delayed.[29] 17 national broadcasters televised the championships along with 69 Eurosport and Eurosport Asia-Pacific nations., resulting in a total of 666 million global viewers[29] The top events with the greatest naitional live audience was the men's ski jumping individual large and normal hill event from Poland's TVP1 with 5.0 and 4.4 million viewers respectively.[29] Germany's ZDF had the 2nd highest national event ratings with 4.0 million viewers for the ski jumping men's team large hill event.[29]

The mascot was announced by the Organizing Committee during the week of 30 June 2008.[30] It was a lion named Libi and it made its first appearance in the Czech Republic with Neumannová and Czech Republic prime minister Mirek Topolánek at a meeting that same week.[30]

Unidentified skier during the women's 4 × 5 km relay event at the championships on 26 February 2009.

The cross country skiing venue took place at Vesec which had two 3.75 km loops in 2007. These loops were shortened to 3.3 km and 2.5 km, and then combined. Four additional loops of 1.2 km (women's sprint), 1.3 km (men's sprint), 5 km, and 7.5 km were also created. At the fall 2007 meeting in Zurich during the week of 24 September 2007, it was announced that Vesec had completed paving the courses for roller skiing and in-line skating, finalization of bridges, access roads, and permanent facilities; and installing snow-making equipment.[17] The test event for cross country occurred during the weekend of 15–17 February 2008.[17] Because of warm weather and the lack of snow, the organizing committee was forced to bring snow from the mountains surrounding Liberec.[18] As a result, the races were held on the paved roller skiing track.[18] Initially on 16 February they were scheduled to be pursuit events, but were changed to interval start events.[40] The winner of the 10 km women's event was Norway's Astrid Jacobsen[41] while the winner of the 15 km men's event was Jean Marc Gaillard of France.[42] Team sprint winners on the 17th were both from Norway with the ladies going to Marit Bjørgen and Astrid Jacobsen[43] and the men going to Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Simen Østensen[44] Snow was lacking at the cross-country course as of 16 December 2008, but organizers were ready for expected cold temperatures from Christmas 2008 onward to prepare the courses for the championships.[22] As of 14 January 2009, about 50,000 cubic metres (1,800,000 cu ft) of snow had been produced using between 20 and 27 snow guns and two snow lances.[45] Tracks were groomed, widen, and maintained in preparation of the Slavic Cup (Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia) events that took place the weekend of 17–18 January 2009.[45] Courses were covered with snow of 50 centimetres (20 in) as of 11 February 2009.[27] Snow reserves guaranteed the best conditions even if warm weather hit the Jizera Mountains.[27] Closing ceremonies of the championships were held at Vesec.[3]

The ski jumping venue took place at Ještěd which has two hills that were already to FIS specifications. The normal hill size (HS) was 100 m (HS100) while the large hill size was 134 m (HS134). Both hills were used for FIS ski jumping World Cup venues with Finnish ski jumper Janne Ahonen holding the record jump of 139 m on the HS134 hill in 2004. Modifications were done to the outrun and data was gathered on the wind flow within the ski jumping area from January to March for 2006 to 2009. At the fall 2007 meeting in Zurich during the week of 24 September 2007, it was announced by the Organizing Committee that construction was proceeding according to schedule, with completion in mid-December 2007.[17] The test event for Jested took place on 8–9 February 2008.[17] A grandstand of 10,000 spectators was constructed in order to have night time ski jumping the weekend of 9–10 February 2008.[46] The hill suffered a landslide caused by continuous rainfall around the hill during the week of 28 January 2008, but the outrun was not affected by the event, according to Liberec mayor Jiri Kittner.[46] On 1 February, Neumannová stated that the ski jumping events took place as scheduled.[46] The lift to the ski jump that was not working during the FIS World Cup B Nordic combined event in January was fixed.[46] The winners of the ski jumping test event at the HS134 hill were Thomas Morgenstern of Austria on 8 February[47] and Anders Jacobsen of Norway on 9 February.[48] An Alpen Cup competition took place on the weekend of 20–21 December 2008 to have final test procedures and infrastructure for the championships.[22] As of 14 January 2009, the main grandstand was complete while the teams worked on proper shaping of the hills for use.[45] The large hill was closed while the normal hill was designated for ski jumper and Nordic combined athlete training.[45] Further construction during the week of 19 January 2009 included spectator stairs on the side of the hill, mobile containers for the athletes and their service teams; and a spectator catering tent was set up.[45]

The nordic combined events used both venues listed for cross country skiing and ski jumping. The test event for Nordic combined occurred during the weekend of 15–17 February 2008.[17] Because of the lack of snow and warm weather prior to the test event, the schedule for the test event was adjusted to the sprint event on 15 February, the Gundersen event on 16 February, and the sprint qualification event on 17 February.[18] The sprint event on 15 February was cancelled to changing winds.[49] Meanwhile, the Gundersen event on 16 February was changed to a mass start event won by Norway's Petter Tande.[50] Two unsuccessful attempts at the ski jumping part of the sprint qualification event to high winds on the 17th resulted in the event's cancellation.[51] A World Cup event leading up to the championships was to have taken place 13–14 December 2008 in the 10 km individual large hill event as a test event,[52] but was cancelled on 6 December 2008 to warm weather and lack of snow. Neumannová stated that they had a second plan in getting snow from the Jizerske mountains higher elevations where there were better conditions for snowing.[21] 10,000 cubic metres (350,000 cu ft) of snow at Bedřichov and Albrechtice were prepared for two nights.[21] The third plan proposed two large parking places in the Krkonoše Mountains with natural snow collected for use in the Vesec area.[21] Neumannová assured everyone "that the entire team is working very hard in order to deliver a successful FIS Nordic World Ski Championships." and could not wait to "welcome all the teams, the international media, our guest, and of course, thousands of fans to Liberec in February."[21]

The Tipsport Arena in Liberec was used as the operational center for the championships. This included accreditation for the athletes, location of the organizing committee support staff, an international media center, and individual race offices. It also served as the site for the opening ceremonies of the championships.[3]