Time for Macedonian skiers to focus on ski jumps, and not the rest of the disciplines where for 20 years couldn’t finish a race or ended up collecting tree branches.

The Agency of Youth and Sports (AMS) is embarking on a large project financed by the Government that will put Macedonia on the ski jumping map.  

The Government had put aside an initial 5 million euros for the project.

- We will send several of our experts to Slovenia for consulting. We don’t know the location yet, however, the ski center in Mavrovo and Kozuv are our top locations – says Dragan Gjurcevski, Director of AMS.

Macedonian Vice Premier Zoran Stavrevski had asked the initial plan and project for the ski jumping facility to be done by December 31. From the Balkan countries, only Slovenia has a world class ski jumping facilities, two of them, the ultra famous Planica and Kranj, both of them part of the World Cup competition.

None of Macedonia’s neighbors have similar facility that would satisfy World Cup or Olympic norms.
- This is very serious work, and this is how we are approaching it. It will be the largest facility of its kind in the Balkans, where world’s elite will compete. Our deadline is to complete this project by the end of 2009, latest by mid 2010. The goal is for our ski jumping center to be part of the World Cup Calendar. – concluded Gurcevski.