Tremplin du Praz

Tremplin du Praz
The normal hill, including the medium in-run, to the left, and the large hill to the right
Location	Courchevel France
Opened	1990
Renovated	2011
Size
K–point	K-25, K-60, K-90, K-120
Hill size	HS96, HS132
Hill record	(K-120: 137.0 m in 2011) Nicolas Mayer (K-90: 100.5 m in 2010)
Top events
Olympics	1992

Tremplin du Praz is a ski jumping hill at Le Praz in Courchevel, France. The complex consists of four hills: a large hill with construction point of K-120 and hill size of HS132, a normal hill at K-90 and HS96, and two training hills at K-60 and K-25. The complex also has a cross-country skiing stadium used for Nordic combined. Jörg Ritzerfeld holds the large hill winter record of 134.0 metres and Nicolas Mayer the normal hill record of 100.5 metres.

La Praz received its first ski jumping hill in 1944. Ahead of the 1992 Winter Olympics, the large and normal hills were built along with a cross-country stadium to host ski jumping and Nordic combined events. Since 1997, the hill has hosted an annual summer FIS Ski Jumping Grand Prix event. It has also been used for one FIS Ski Jumping World Cup and two FIS Nordic Combined World Cup rounds, in addition to four events of the FIS Ski Jumping Continental Cup. The medium hill opened in 2004 and the small hill in 2008.

The first ski jump in Courchevel was built on the location of the large hill in 1944. It was followed by a second in 1955, located in Courchevel 1850. The hills were used to incorporate ski jumping into the Alpine skiing training programs. In 1970, a larger 50-metre hill was built in Courchevel 1850. It was supplemented with a small 25-metre hill in the early 1990s.

In the Albertville bid for the 1992 Winter Olympics, La Praz was designated the host of the ski jumping and Nordic combined events. The site was chosen because it was sheltered from the wind, had good exposure to the sun and predictable snowfall. Planning for the new venue started in 1988, after Albertville had been selected to host the games. The hills were designed so both could be used simultaneously, if desired. During the 1988 Winter Olympics, the ski jumps at Canada Olympic Park were subject to strong winds and several of the competitions were postponed. To avoid such inconveniences, Tremplin du Praz was built into the mountain side to minimize wind exposure. Although the size of the hills remained the same, the 1992 Olympics were the first to measure the sizes in construction points (K-points).