History will be made at Helsinki Olympic Stadium next winter when the stadium opens its doors to skiers! The joy of skiing is offered by the Helsinki Ski Weeks event, which will be organised for the first time. Skiing will take over the stadium from 29 January to 27 February 2022.
Helsinki Ski Weeks offers experiences to everyone – guaranteed by the impressive winter conditions of the renovated Olympic Stadium. The Olympic Stadium will become a brand new neighbourhood sports site in Helsinki for a month, as the ski track on the stadium has free entrance. In other words, skiing with your own skis is free, but you can also rent skis at the stadium. Pre-registration for the track ensures that everyone has enough space to ski on the 1.1-kilometre track.
“Events play a significant role in building the comfort, vitality and attractiveness of Helsinki. Helsinki Ski Weeks responds to this goal by creating a ski arena on the Olympic Stadium open to everyone for a month. I hope that large numbers of city residents of all ages will take advantage of this unique opportunity to go skiing in the heart of the city,” says Tarja Loikkanen, Director of Sports at the City of Helsinki.
The Stadium also has a wide range of events from concerts to a ski disco and the Stadion Sprint competition
Helsinki Ski Weeks’ range of events combines the joy of sports and memorable entertainment. During the month, the Olympic Stadium will also host a variety of side events relevant to the theme: In addition to the opportunity to ski, the opening concert, Children’s Snow Days, a sprint competition for companies and a ski disco will attract people to the stadium. Helsinki Ski Weeks will culminate in the international Stadion Sprint invitation competition on 24 February, in which superstars of skiing will compete with each other in a different, entertaining but high-class competition that does not lack the feeling of a major sporting event. Helsinki Ski Weeks is complemented by an event market next to the Olympic Stadium, where you can enjoy delicious food and drink in a cheerful after ski atmosphere.
“Helsinki Ski Weeks has been developed so that as many Helsinki residents as possible would arrive at the renewed Olympic Stadium and experience something that has not been experienced before: the joy of skiing at the Olympic Stadium, a shrine to Finnish sport. At the Ski Association, we hope that the residents of Helsinki will seize the opportunity for this experience. You do not need to have your own equipment, as there is both an equipment rental shop and a sporting goods store on site. And if your skills are a bit rusty, there are also ski school services available. So come in large numbers and experience a memorable sporting moment at Finland’s largest neighbourhood sports site,” says Jari-Pekka Jouppi, Commercial Director of the Finnish Ski Association.
The theme of the Helsinki Ski Weeks partner meeting is responsibility
Responsibility is at the heart of the planning and implementation of Helsinki Ski Weeks. This means both social and environmental responsibility. Social responsibility and the public health perspective are realised by the fact that a neighbourhood sports site offered free of charge to the whole population enables skiing at an exceptionally low threshold, regardless of age or skill level.
Environmental responsibility is realised, among other things, by the fact that Helsinki Ski Weeks will use natural snow if there is snow in Helsinki in February 2022. If there is no snow from the sky, the event will be held using artificial snow that has been made and preserved by the City of Helsinki in the Kivikko ski hall. The preserved snow was made in March at freezing temperatures in Kivikko and transferred to the cool hall for storage. Before the transfer to the Stadium, most of the stored snow is used by skiers in the Kivikko ski hall, which is partly cooled by solar power.
The Finnish Ski Association has announced that Helsinki Ski Weeks will be implemented in a carbon-neutral manner. The carbon neutrality of the event is achieved by avoiding the most harmful and unnecessary emissions, making the remaining emissions as small as possible and compensating for the emissions that cannot be avoided or reduced.
The Finnish Ski Association, together with its partners, is responsible for the planning and production of the Helsinki Ski Weeks event. The City of Helsinki is one of the partners of the event. The intention is to make Helsinki Ski Weeks, as well as its main events National Skiing Day and Stadion Sprint, a recurring tradition that moves people in both senses of the word. It is hoped that approximately 200,000 participants attend the one-month event from 29 January to 27 February 2022.
More information:
Helsinki Ski Weeks website: https://helsinkiskiweeks.fi/en/(Link leads to external service)
Tickets to Stadion Sprint: https://www.lippu.fi/en/artist/helsinki-ski-weeks/(Link leads to external service)