Skip to content

Olympian weighs in

There’s only one thing that might draw Jason Myslicki out of retirement - the reopening of the Big Thunder Sports Park.
99342_634136885222834828
Olympians Jason Myslicki (left) and Haley Irwin march during Canada Day opening ceremonies on Camelot Street on Thursday. Myslicki said he like to see Big Thunder Sports Park re-opened. (Leith Dunick)

There’s only one thing that might draw Jason Myslicki out of retirement - the reopening of the Big Thunder Sports Park.

The Nordic combined skier, who reluctantly came out of retirement following the 2006 Olympics to compete for Canada at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, said it was an absolute heartbreak for him when the province decided to shutter the facility in 1996, a year after the Nordic worlds were held in his hometown Thunder Bay.

"Maybe I would come back," Myslicki said on Canada Day, shortly after taking part in the opening procession to the festivities at Marina Park. "If that was open again, I would love to take some more jumps on that ski jump. I’ve hit pretty much every major facility around the world over my career, and Big Thunder is for sure the best. And that’s not just a bias."

Now 32 and a veteran of two Olympic Games, the Calgary-based Myslicki said there’s no doubt that he’d get complete agreement from every World Cup athlete who ever competed at Big Thunder.

"I hope it comes back," he said, promising to become a little more active in efforts to bring it back to life.

Friends of Big Thunder is one of six groups who submitted letters of interest to the government at the end of March, suggesting potential future uses of the now-dilapidated property that lies just outside the city off Highway 61.

The province, which owns the property, has said little publicly since, though MPP Bill Mauro (Lib., Thunder Bay-Atikokan), told Thunder Bay Source last month that he expects the ministry of tourism and culture to announce something in the coming weeks.

Myslicki, who has enrolled at the University of Calgary where this fall he plans to start studying kinesiology, said with his competitive career behind him, he should have more time to help push to bring winter sports back to Big Thunder.

Myslicki has signed petitions in the past, and featured the site on his blog, but that’s about it.
The time has come, he said.

"I honestly don’t think it takes that much to get it going again. I would have loved to have been here on a pre-Olympic training camp, training and jumping. Maybe I’m a little naïve, but I think it wouldn’t take too much and I think it’s more about the politics. If I can help out there, I’d love to," said Myslicki, who sits on the Athletes Council and has also spent time on the boards of Athletes Can and Nordic Combined Ski Canada.

Currently the country has but one world-class facility, the Olympic venue located in B.C.’s Callaghan Valley.

A lesser jump is located in Calgary.

Myslicki agreed that the western sites hurts potential athletes in the eastern half of the country, and the jumps that do exist leave something to be desired or aren’t open year-round.

"At Big Thunder, it’s the profile of the hill, the altitude we’re at is pretty close to sea level, so it’s great for flying. It’s very similar to some of the top hills in the world. When Canadian athletes are only training in Calgary, they’re really in tune with that profile of a hill," he said.
"And it is a very unique hill, a very old-style hill. Whereas Thunder Bay was leading technology and the kind of profile you want in a ski jump."

Myslicki said he yearns for the day when the city regularly produced world-class athletes or helped train them.

"That says a lot about the facility, the passion of this community and the heritage and culture with the sports of ski jumping and Nordic combined. Since this place hasn’t been active, I’m the only person involved with Nordic combined in Canada that lived in the old world, which was with Thunder Bay active. Really no one else knows what they’re missing out on from the west."

Myslicki finished 42nd and 43rd in the two 10-kilometre Nordic combined events he entered in Vancouver. He was the top Canadian both times.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
Read more



push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks