Kuopio’s Puijo normal hill ski jump to be demolished in spring despite calls for replacement

The iconic but deteriorating K-90 normal hill at Kuopio’s Puijo ski jumping centre will be dismantled this spring, leaving Finnish ski jumping without a key training facility, reports Finnish broadcaster Yle. Athletes and legends of the sport are urging authorities to fund a replacement, but financing remains unresolved.

The demolition, set to begin in May at a cost of €270,000, follows years of disuse due to the hill’s poor condition. The site will be landscaped after removal, but no plans exist for a new hill despite its critical role in athlete development.

Finnish combined star Ilkka Herola, a two-time Olympic medallist this season, called the hill’s loss immeasurable. “You can’t put a price on what this hill has given Finnish ski jumping over the past 20 years,” he told Yle, emphasising the need for collective will to rebuild. “The infrastructure, coaching systems—everything is in place. We just need the hill.”

Minja Korhonen, 18, another top Finnish combined athlete, now trains more frequently in Lahti due to Puijo’s closure. “For junior development, it’s crucial we find a solution to build a new hill here,” she said. The current K-90, built in the early 1980s for the Junior World Championships, has been unusable for two years.

Veteran jumper Pasi Huttunen, who estimates he made 10,000 jumps from the hill since his 1982 debut at age 14, lamented the broader decline in Finnish training sites. “Not everyone can afford to train abroad. The K-90 hills in Rovaniemi and Jyväskylä are also in bad shape—we’re running out of options,” he said.

Kuopio city officials have ruled out sole funding for a replacement, which would cost several million euros. Petter Kukkonen of the Finnish Ski Association framed the issue as a national priority: “We must decide whether we want to maintain ski jumping centres across Finland. This sport delivers medal expectations—it needs proper facilities.”

Former stars like Risto Laakkonen, winner of the 1988–89 Four Hills Tournament, and Janne Happonen, a 2006 Olympic team silver medallist, warned the gap between smaller K-64 hills and large hills will widen without Puijo’s mid-sized jump. “For juniors, skipping this step is a huge leap,” Happonen said.

The demolition leaves Finland with one fewer K-90 hill, intensifying pressure on remaining sites in Lahti and elsewhere. With state sports funding tight, the sport’s future infrastructure hangs in balance.