Malo Polje Ski Jumps

What you are looking at

Malo Polje is the ski-jumping complex built on Igman for the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics. It hosted the Olympic normal-hill and large-hill ski-jumping events, plus the jumping element of Nordic combined. The site sits in a natural bowl on the plateau, below the forested slopes of Igman.

This is not an operating competition venue. Come to see a substantial piece of Olympic infrastructure in its present, weathered state—not for lift-served ski jumping or a museum display.

The Olympic design

The Slovenian brothers Janez and Vlado Gorišek designed the complex around the shape of the ground. The surrounding slopes reduced wind exposure for jumpers and doubled as natural spectator banks.

The layout was unusually legible:

• Two principal jumps ran parallel from their inrun towers.
• They fed one shared landing slope and outrun.
• Three smaller wooden training jumps stood alongside the main pair.

At the Games, the venue staged the normal-hill event on 12 February 1984 and the large-hill event on 18 February. Jens Weißflog won the normal hill; Matti Nykänen won the large hill, where his 116-metre jump set the hill record.

What remains

The two principal concrete structures still define the site. Their stripped, angular ramps make the scale of the original venue clear, while the bowl explains why this location was chosen. The smaller jumps did not survive.

The complex was heavily damaged during the 1992–95 war and has not returned to competitive use. That history is part of the place, but the most useful way to read it is through the physical layout: towers above, landing hill below, and the broad slopes once used by spectators.

Visiting the site

Malo Polje is on Igman, southwest of Sarajevo, near the mountain facilities and the Igman mountain hut opposite the jumps. Combine it with a walk or a wider day on the Igman plateau rather than treating it as a long standalone stop.

Safety: the jump structures are derelict. Keep out of closed or unstable sections and do not climb the towers. In snow or poor visibility, use established access routes and allow for mountain conditions.

When to go

Visit in clear daylight if the purpose is to understand the architecture and photograph the towers. Snow gives the landing hill its original context; snow-free months make the shared outrun and the contours of the natural amphitheatre easier to distinguish. Winter recreation continues elsewhere on Igman, but the Olympic jumps themselves remain out of service.