Harrachov Bridge Dispute: Ski Jumping Controversy

It will still take a few weeks before the ski season really gets going, but in Harrachov in the Krkonoše Mountains, a fresh batch of snow already invites you to go skiing at the beginning of December.

In the more daring visitors, the atmosphere of the mountain resort can evoke ideas of what it would be like to jump on skis from some of the local bridges. As the legends of the discipline did, which the Czechs adopted as their own. Jiří Raška, Pavel Ploc, Jakub Janda…

But those who go for a walk to the area of ​​the large bridges will not be greeted with a happy sight. The impact area is bounded by a metal fence with the logo of the construction company. Under the snow, you can see the rutted terrain, pieces of wood lying loosely in piles. A short distance away, an excavator stands idle.

The bridges themselves are still unusable, the long-planned repair has been on hold since the summer. And instead of excavators, lawyers went into action. Most recently, this Wednesday, when the appeals committee dealt with the case of the exclusion of one of the architects of the bridge reconstruction, Vít Háček, the head of the jumping section of the Czech Skiers’ Association and, until recently, the head of the Harrachov National Sports Center.

He accuses the leadership of the Skiers’ Association of violating the statutes when he transferred state land to Harrachov, and dismissed him from the position of head of the jump section and the National Sports Center. In the end, however, the final decision was postponed.

Thus continues a dispute that has no parallel in the modern history of this traditional Czech sport. According to its actors, it can decide not only the future of this sport, but also of the city of Harrachov.

“After fifteen years, the excavators went under the bridge. They did the work, everything is transparent. But according to the skiers’ union, Vít Háček harmed their interests. So what are those interests? He took all the steps to make sports possible,” says Filip Sakala, sports director of the Czech ski jumpers and a former national team.

“Vít Háček was not willing to respect the opinion of two members of the association,” says David Trávníček, president of the Skiers’ Association.

Twenty-nine-year-old Filip Sakala was a professional ski jumper just recently, similar to his father Jaroslav, but ended his career after participating in the 2022 Olympic Games. Instead, he became the sports director of the Czech jumpers in 2023.

The ski jumping section thus went through a generational change – at the same time, the membership elected another former jumper, the then 28-year-old Vít Háček, to head it.

And they had big plans together. “We took over the sport in a state where the infrastructure was catastrophic. Everything was broken, the relationships were not optimal. The sport had no vision. The sponsors no longer found it attractive, they were not young. We started completely from scratch,” says Sakala.

They wanted to focus especially on the repair of the bridges in Harrachov, which have been neglected for a long time. “There is no quality bridge that could take us somewhere in the Czech Republic at the moment. There are bridges here that are not so bad, but age has taken its toll on them,” describes Vít Háček.

In this, Háček and Sakala found common ground with the mayor of Harrachov, Tomáš Vašíček (SNK – Change for Harrachov), who will be at the head of the city from 2022. And they came up with a plan. The area was to undergo a major renovation. For example, the K120 bridge was to become HS 162 – a larger, more modern bridge prepared for world cups.

And they agreed that the Harrachov National Sports Center – an association where representatives of the city, the Skiers’ Union of the Czech Republic and the local Bucharov Ski and Tourist Club – would transfer the state land to the city, which was supposed to help financially with the reconstruction, by a donation contract.

However, representatives of the Association of Skiers and the Bukhara Club challenged the donation agreement. They claim they were unaware of the deal. So the work stopped in August.

According to Trávníček, the fundamental problem was also that Harrachov had not negotiated all the requirements in advance. “The rules require that the lease relationship last 30 years. Such an exception must be requested from the Ministry of Finance. Unfortunately, it did not provide this exception to the city of Harrachov, which requested this exception,” said Trávníček at a meeting with journalists at the end of November.

Trávníček later added to Seznam Zpravy that, according to him, there is a suspicion that “the actions of the former management of NSC Harrachov could have caused the association to become over-indebted.” He plans to verify this with an internal audit, which should be completed in January next year.

Háček, Sakala and the mayor of Vašíček strongly deny wrongdoing. “Projection work took place for two and a half years. Everyone watched how millions were paid, and at the final stage they will say that they are against it. This is completely absurd,” says Háček.

According to him, the other members of the association knew about his intention. “I asked about it at all possible meetings and no one ever told me a single argument they could have against the donation agreement. Mr. Trávníček sent me clapping smileys when I told him that the reconstruction was starting,” he adds.

“The donation contract is transparent. It also included a reversion clause, if the city did not take care of the area, it would have to return the land to the National Sports Center. In addition, the city as a self-governing entity is subject to the strictest controls,” Sakala stands behind the decision.

Haček also disagrees that he erred in the process of granting the exemption. “A long-term lease of 30 years is a condition for obtaining an investment subsidy, a condition for an operating subsidy is any lease for any period,” he says.

If the appeals committee ultimately sides with the Skiers’ Union and Háček is dismissed, he wants to defend himself in court. In the event of his termination, Sakala also plans to leave his post. “However, I fear that with this step, the jumps will go down in the eyes of the public. The projects will collapse because the cities will not have the ambition to continue investing energy in it,” says Filip Sakala.

This is already partially confirmed. The mayor rejects Harrach’s cooperation with the current leadership of the Skiers’ Association. The city had previously withdrawn from the contract and withdrew from the National Sports Center at the beginning of December.

Vašíček believes that the commercial interests of the union leadership are behind the end of Háček. “It’s about the campus. I’m absolutely convinced of that,” says the mayor. He is worried about the changes that have already taken place in the past in the campuses in Špindlerův Mlýn or in Pec pod Sněžkou. And the fact that the land will come into private hands through leasehold. This would cause the city to lose control over the site. “It would be the end of Harrachov if the property fell into the hands of unauthorized people,” says Vašíček.

Travníček, on the other hand, does not hide that he does not oppose this path. According to him, on the contrary, it is a way to turn Harrachov into a modern campus.

“For a long time, we have been striving for the current management of the Harrachov Sports Center to conduct a market survey and find out under what conditions it would be possible to provide the Harrachov ski area for long-term operation to a commercial entity, similar to how it works successfully in the two largest ski areas in our country, i.e. in Pec pod Sněžkou and in Špindlerův Mlýn, which are also co-owned by the Skiers’ Union of the Czech Republic and the Czech Union of Sport. However, this effort in Harrachov has historically come up against resistance,” states Trávníček.

About the Harrachov campus already two years ago in an interview for CzechCrunch Marcel Soural, owner of the company Trigema, which also owns the site in nearby Rokytnica, showed interest. Seznam The News approached Trigem with the question of whether Soural’s interest in Harrachov is still valid. However, her representatives did not respond until the publication of the article.

Jumpers are also afraid of entrusting land to private individuals. According to them, the investor could determine the prices for which he would let the athlete train or hold competitions on the spot. “We have experience with the leased area on Ještěd. The winter season has not been held there since then, because it is unsustainable for us,” says Háček.

“Leasing land in Harrachov would be the death of this sport,” adds Sakala.